The following tables present the technology categories which make up the CarbonStop.org single family home assessment technologies of focus. Each home will be audited for the potential use of cost-effective carbon reduction strategies within each of the following categories. The CarbonStop.org Net-Zero Carbon Footprint Audit, will identify a set of specific cost-effective technologies within each category that the homeowner can take to reduce or eliminate their carbon footprint.
Building Envelope
| Air and moisture infiltration exfiltration | Band joist insulation |
| Ceiling/attic insulation | Foundation insulation |
| Heat recovery | Reflective roofs |
| Wall insulation | Window awnings and window management |
| Windows and doors |
Heating/Cooling & HVAC
| Air conditioning | Moisture and humidity control |
| Natural gas and electric furnaces | Programmable thermostats |
Lighting
| Daylighting systems | Lighting controls |
| Solar light tubes | LED conversions of all lighting |
Domestic Water Heating
| Heat recovery drains | Hot water heater storage heating |
| Instantaneous water heating | Insulated water pipes |
| Water heater timers |
Transportation
| Electric scooters and bikes | Electric vehicles |
| Neighborhood ride/vehicle sharing | Solar and wind charging equipment |
Renewable Energy
| Energy conversions and storage systems | Solar condition / convention / passive |
| Solar PV panels and roofs | Solar water heating and pre-heating |
| Wind energy generation and storage | Wind to electric docking systems |
| Window awnings / shades / window management | Utility provided renewable energy service |
Carbon Sequestration
| Hard wood forest trust-land plantings |
Potential new and emerging technologies
| R-60+ hanging and integrated siding retrofit | Super-insulated interior wall panels |
Not all homes will receive all the technologies listed above. Each home will be audited for those technologies that best help that home reach its carbon objectives considering the home location, design, function, the building codes limiting technology use, the behaviors and lifestyles of the family and the financial abilities of the family, linked to CarbonStop.org financing options if needed.
Cost Effectiveness Tests To Select the Technologies for Each Home
One of the most important components of the success of this effort is establishing a decision model in the form of a cost effectiveness test, that helps to identify and select each set of appropriate technologies for each home being converted to a low-carbon net-zero carbon home. Essentially, we need a new customer-focused cost effectiveness test that incorporates the cost and benefits of each technology as it will be applied to each home.
This test has yet to be developed but its parameters and applications are well understood, well tested and have a long history of application. Developing a CarbonStop.org cost effectiveness test will be a challenge, but not a large leap in design. Current tests for these types of decisions are already in operation in every state in the United States today. They can be googled and examined and there is no need to duplicate them here in this proposal for a new way of attacking single family home carbon emissions. These tests are:
The Societal Test: The Societal Test is a test that weighs the costs associated with the installation and use of any given low-carbon or net-zero carbon technology against the benefits to society in addition to the client and the family making the conversions in their home. While the costs of conversion are to the client, there are substantial benefits to the society that constitute the very need for a low-carbon or net-zero carbon future. The benefits are many, including the mitigation of trillions upon trillions of dollars in climate change associated damages to the country and to the world, the saving of our country’s low-lands that contain many of the most populated cities in the country, and the avoidance of an earth that has major areas that may become essentially uninhabitable to the human species. The value of these societal benefits is weighed against the costs of the conversion associated with that home’s individual contributions.
The Participant Test: The participant test is a test that weighs the shorter-term financial costs of conversion of each home against the longer-term financial benefits to that individual home in the form of reduced utility bills as a result of unused energy. It is an economic test of the value of the dollars being spent to convert against the dollars saved by becoming low-carbon or net-zero carbon home.
There are other tests as well (e.g., The Utility Test) however these other tests do not work for CarbonStop.org operations that focus on the client and the need to reduce carbon from each participating home. The two key tests that CarbonStop.org will need to modify for a carbon focus (rather than energy efficiency focus) are briefly discussed below. Mr. Hall has authored several peer reviewed research papers and publications on these tests and has used them extensively in evaluating state and federal energy initiatives.
These two tests comprise the backbone of the CarbonStop.org technology identification and selection process and limits the technologies that are first offered by CarbonStop.org to the client. Of course, many clients will want to do more than what are just economically justified decisions for them and for the country. CarbonStop.org must be willing to go beyond what is cost effective for each home, and include options for each customer to do more than they would, if cost recovery or taking cost effective reduction efforts were their only objective. CarbonStop.org realizes that most people do not make only cost-effective decisions, but allocate their personal resources to meet their personal and often intrinsic objectives as well. For the millions of single-family homeowners who want to do more, CarbonStop.org will help them accomplish their personal or intrinsic goals as well. The two above-described tests will provide the single-family home decision makers with an additional set of information on costs and benefits of each technology for them to make their own decisions on what actions to take.
The above-described tests are not detailed to their component metric values in this document because those tests have yet to be developed and because their values can be points of focus that detract from the overall CarbonStop.org objective. With that said, the fine-tuning of these steps in regards to other carbon reduction approaches is something that Mr. Hall and others have accomplished with every research project they have undertaken over the last 30 years, and will likewise be formulated in the early weeks of a CarbonStop.org launch process. As always, the views and opinions of the CarbonStop.org sponsors will be given weight in the development process.