John McKenna introduces radiant barriers. Watch the new episode about saving energy.

[Peter C. Russell]

Originally Posted by jkaylor

And there in lies one of the beautiful aspects of energy auditing. BPI and Resnet's standard of practice both say as long as you are forthright with the customer off the bat about the ability to do certain work or carry certain products you are fine.

Now here is my big question, and I have no idea what the answer is or will be. What happens when these states start passing bills to force an energy audit for a real estate transaction. So now you are a home inspector and an energy auditor. What happens shen you do the home inspection, then go out to your truck and put on your energy auditing atire. All of a sudden you can do (sub, refer, actually do) the improvements that only an hour ago you could not?

My guess would be (passing of more laws) that either you will not be able to do both on the same property, or the SOP from BPI/Resnet or via other laws the energy auditor will have the same limitations that home inspectors currently have.

And John, I never said the product didn't work. I just said I have seen similair products here locally. If your product truly does work, and I am not saying it doesn't, you need to approach the right people to get it listed as an incentive upgrade. Under the new stimulus bill they raised the cap from $500 to $1500 on window upgrades (30% of the upgrade). The guy I was referring to here locally got his product "certified", for lack of better terms. And the local power company reimburses the customer.

Jason Kaylor – JJ
VP of Sales
877/207-1244
AC Tool Supply
Fluke Thermal Imagers
FLIR Thermal Imagers
HotShot Hi-Rez Infrared Cameras
Fluke TiR1 Resources
FLIR B60 Resources
Retrotec Duct & Blower Door
Charlotte NC North Carolina Energy Auditor

My plan is to sub out the home inspection, do the energy audit myself and then complete the recommended improvements and then re-audit. Much more money and a lot less liability.

As far as the product John is promoting, the company has contacted me in regard to distribution in the North East. I'm looking more at the commercial application rather than the residential because I think the cost or the radiant barrier will be to high of an investment for a home owner to justify. One thought that comes to mind is old windows with storms on them. If you put a radiant barrier on them you may gain in efficiency but you won't be able to tilt the windows in to clean them, and that is huge in my area.

I do see this as a big market for commercial applications. I think of all the buildings in my area that have sun beating on them all day and with the capability of printing logs or names on the barrier it could have potential.

And Jason, I'd be careful as to who you throw stones at, what's that saying about living in a glass house?

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by prussell

My plan is to sub out the home inspection, do the energy audit myself and then complete the recommended improvements and then re-audit. Much more money and a lot less liability.

As far as the product John is promoting, the company has contacted me in regard to distribution in the North East. I'm looking more at the commercial application rather than the residential because I think the cost or the radiant barrier will be to high of an investment for a home owner to justify. One thought that comes to mind is old windows with storms on them. If you put a radiant barrier on them you may gain in efficiency but you won't be able to tilt the windows in to clean them, and that is huge in my area.

I do see this as a big market for commercial applications. I think of all the buildings in my area that have sun beating on them all day and with the capability of printing logs or names on the barrier it could have potential.

And Jason, I'd be careful as to who you throw stones at, what's that saying about living in a glass house?

Sounds like a good plan.

BTW... this radiant barrier can be installed so that it can still
give access to the window. There are several ways it can
be installed.

The payback return of this product vs paying for window upgrades
is much faster and more return. Residential houses get window
upgrades and storm windows installed all the time, but don't
get near the return as this product.

Your idea on commercial is correct. The glass on many of
these types of buildings is a huge source of energy loss, both
in summer and winter.

In one car dealership we know of, just adding this radiant
barrier without doing any other weatherization, reduced their
utility bill by 50%. No joke.

[David A. Andersen]

I think the cost or the radiant barrier will be to high of an investment for a home owner to justify.

That is my limited assessment as well.

In an attempt to contact this company to determine the specifics, I was unable to.

John will not or can not provide this information for assessment, so if you get the information please disseminate it.

No one said this application would not work or is not needed. It is of paramount concern in many commercial applications. I recommend this type of application to about 30% of my clients who have a lot of glass and with south and west exposures which often have excessive heat load on air-conditioning system for this part of the house. The air-conditioning system is often improperly designed. Lowering the heat load can be significantly more cost-effective than making alterations to the HVAC system. As for commercial applications, I know at least a dozen places that have verbally mentioned to me problems of solar gain.

I am currently working on a project concerning the efficiency upgrade of 1200 family housing units on a military installation. We cannot take one step forward in this project until we can assess and predict the expected savings that should be received in the design model. If you can't gather and provide this information to your prospective client, I can't see this getting off the ground at the investment amount required.

We can't predict the future because the weather changes and the clients building use is not the same but you can provide a scientific model for comparison.

On their website, they say they make no excuses for the higher cost of the product because it is far superior than anything else on the market. I would like to see their data on this, because this is what will make this product sell.

One other perspective of this product comes to mind. Do we promote the product as "energy efficiency" or to correct a "comfort condition".

Electromagnetic radiation passing through a window increases the temperature inside the building by a certain number BTUs. This increases the load on the HVAC equipment in proportion to the projected radiation through the glass. Actually, it is not as dramatic an increase as perceived in a properly designed building.

However, this same energy makes us uncomfortable when we are located in this projected path. It has a greater effect on our comfort than the actual room temperature. As a result, we increase the use of the HVAC equipment to overcome the radiant effect on our comfort. So as a result, the use of the radiant barrier keeps you from having to turn the air conditioner down so low and will dramatically reduce your cooling expenses. These savings can be calculated.

We find this scenario most often in commercial and high-end homes with a lot of glass exposure. So directing your focus on commercial application is a good idea in my opinion, Peter.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by dandersen

That is my limited assessment as well.

People are willing to upgrade their windows all the time.

In an attempt to contact this company to determine the specifics, I was unable to.

I told you to contact me for access. Why do you avoid that?

John will not or can not provide this information for assessment, so if you get the information please disseminate it.

No one said this application would not work or is not needed. It is of paramount concern in many commercial applications. I recommend this type of application to about 30% of my clients who have a lot of glass and with south and west exposures which often have excessive heat load on air-conditioning system for this part of the house.

This product does more than others.


The air-conditioning system is often improperly designed. Lowering the heat load can be significantly more cost-effective than making alterations to the HVAC system. As for commercial applications, I know at least a dozen places that have verbally mentioned to me problems of solar gain.

Just think of the savings if all those big holes in the walls could
be upgraded from an R value of 2.8 (double pane window) to equal
the R value of the wall (2x4 insulated). These numbers vary
depending on type of window.

I am currently working on a project concerning the efficiency upgrade of 1200 family housing units on a military installation. We cannot take one step forward in this project until we can assess and predict the expected savings that should be received in the design model. If you can't gather and provide this information to your prospective client, I can't see this getting off the ground at the investment amount required.

In the limited areas of Canada, where this product has been sold for
7 years, word of mouth has been a big selling factor.

We can't predict the future because the weather changes and the clients building use is not the same but you can provide a scientific model for comparison.

On their website, they say they make no excuses for the higher cost of the product because it is far superior than anything else on the market. I would like to see their data on this, because this is what will make this product sell.

Contact me at ... john@infrared-certified.com
You must go through me to become a distributor.

One other perspective of this product comes to mind. Do we promote the product as "energy efficiency" or to correct a "comfort condition".

Both.

Electromagnetic radiation passing through a window increases the temperature inside the building by a certain number BTUs. This increases the load on the HVAC equipment in proportion to the projected radiation through the glass. Actually, it is not as dramatic an increase as perceived in a properly designed building.

The secondary heat created by solar absorption and then that
energy re-radiating into the building must be factored in as well.

However, this same energy makes us uncomfortable when we are located in this projected path. It has a greater effect on our comfort than the actual room temperature. As a result, we increase the use of the HVAC equipment to overcome the radiant effect on our comfort. So as a result, the use of the radiant barrier keeps you from having to turn the air conditioner down so low and will dramatically reduce your cooling expenses. These savings can be calculated.

True.

We find this scenario most often in commercial and high-end homes with a lot of glass exposure. So directing your focus on commercial application is a good idea in my opinion, Peter.

True.

Also, any home owner that is considering the idea of adding more
glass on top of glass (happens all the time), would do much
better and get more results with this product.

Contact me for more info.... john@infrared-certified.com

[Barry Adair]

http://www.solarcomfort.ca/

[Jason Kaylor]

Originally Posted by prussell

My plan is to sub out the home inspection, do the energy audit myself and then complete the recommended improvements and then re-audit. Much more money and a lot less liability.

As far as the product John is promoting, the company has contacted me in regard to distribution in the North East. I'm looking more at the commercial application rather than the residential because I think the cost or the radiant barrier will be to high of an investment for a home owner to justify. One thought that comes to mind is old windows with storms on them. If you put a radiant barrier on them you may gain in efficiency but you won't be able to tilt the windows in to clean them, and that is huge in my area.

I do see this as a big market for commercial applications. I think of all the buildings in my area that have sun beating on them all day and with the capability of printing logs or names on the barrier it could have potential.

And Jason, I'd be careful as to who you throw stones at, what's that saying about living in a glass house?

When I first saw the video on this, that is exactly what came to mind for me was the commercial applications. Our building we are in here has a ton of glass. Most of the buildings out here in Phoenix are mostly glass faced.

Peter, that wasn't my post throwing stones, actually they were more like boulders. Mine was just commenting on the space certification seal that the manufacture is using, just seemed a like a cheesy marketing idea to me. I deal with manufactures all day long, and none of the really good ones use tactics like that. There is just no reason for it if the product is good (once again I am not saying it isn't). Now a days people do a lot more research and are probably more educated in general because of the ease of gaining information in this era.

I do however see they have the USGBC logo and Energy Star on their site. USGBC is the body behind LEEDS. The USGBC will tell you flat out that no product is LEEDS certified. It can however get LEEDS points during the construction of a LEEDS project. Normally they would prefer to see something that is not only energy efficient and/or renewable, but also made from recycled components. I am currently working on my LEEDS certification, but decided to wait until August for version 3.0's test.

John, speaking of which, with this product more than likely being more cost effective for commercial you might want to consider LEEDS certification as well. As a supplier we are very interested in the LEEDS program and products that will gain LEEDS points during construction. It is messy at the moment though with all these manufactures and what and what will not get points.

All I know is, products like this one, as well as services like many of you guys provide is how construction will be done for a long time to come. Europe has been doing the green thing for over a decade as well as Australia, it was only a matter of time before we had to follow suit. Just like Peter has done, you guys that come from a GC (construction) background stand to benefit in a big way over the long term.

Jason Kaylor – JJ
VP of Sales
877/207-1244
AC Tool Supply
Fluke Thermal Imagers
FLIR Thermal Imagers
HotShot Hi-Rez Infrared Cameras
Fluke TiR1 Resources
FLIR B60 Resources
Retrotec Duct & Blower Door

[Barry Adair]

Appears TXU is already selling similar product with more info in this market...or buy direct

[Peter C. Russell]

Barry, thanks for that link, I looked at the chimney balloon which may work for me during blower door tests.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by badair

Appears TXU is already selling similar product with more info in this market...or buy direct

This is the product you reference that has 30% less R value than our product.



Our product looks fantastic on windows, adds way more R value and does
not look like an old cloth pulled over the windows.

Look at our product closer
http://www.yourclimatecontrol.com/SolarComfort.pdf
- REFLECTIVITY: Reflect up to 80% of the solar energy
- TRANSPARENCY: High Visibility provides a clear view
- PROTECTION: Protects from Uv fading, glare, and provides daytime privacy
- ENERGY SAVINGS: Reduces heating cost by up to 45%. Greatly reduces AC costs
- SURFACE HEAT RETENTION: Will not add heat your interior. Surface stays cool
- BI-DIRECTIONAL HEAT CONTROL: Reduces heat gain in summer. Reduce heat loss in winter

Imagine a window product that enhances your interior space while it provides protection from glare, heat, UV rays and many other issues, while offering transparency to enjoy the Solar Comfort

Solar Radiant Energy Barriers, certified by Nasa's non-profit Space Foundation
as genuine space technology.

[Peter C. Russell]

Wow, I didn't even think of the mobile home or modular market. John, I talked to Brian and things are moving forward. Thanks. Pete

[Jason Kaylor]

Peter, there are special considerations in the stimulus bill for mobile home weatherization upgrades. The caps are a little different, and they seem to be better for the mobile homes.

Jason Kaylor – JJ
VP of Sales
877/207-1244
AC Tool Supply
Fluke Thermal Imagers
FLIR Thermal Imagers
HotShot Hi-Rez Infrared Cameras
Fluke TiR1 Resources
FLIR B60 Resources
Retrotec Duct & Blower Door
Phoenix AZ Arizona Infrared

[Steven C. Waskewicz]

Any chance we can get samples, if we'd like to show and evaluate the product? Maybe a small 5 X 7 piece, or somesuch?

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by swaskewicz

Any chance we can get samples, if we'd like to show and evaluate the product? Maybe a small 5 X 7 piece, or somesuch?

Yes... contact me for distributorship information, training,
commissions, and samples.

john@infrared-certified.com

[John McKenna]

New pictures on web site added...


http://solarcomfort.ca/products