A comprehensive whole house approach is what describes the Building Performance or Home Performance. Identifying and fixing insulation problems and other efficiency problems is what Building Performance Institute or BPI Certification all about.
Various energy audits are performed by the energy auditors or building analysts or building consultants to rate the building’s energy efficiency. These professionals are certified by the BPI. The entire building is treated as a system. – A system which is operated by various internal heating and cooling systems.
These systems have to work efficiently in order to increase the performance of the building and decrease the maintenance costs for the homeowners.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy initiated a national program called the Home performance with Energy Star. Every building that is referred to by the energy auditor or every building that is new needs to upgrade or install equipment that is Energy Star certified.
These products will improve the efficiency of the systems thus reducing the utility bills, maximizing the life of the building and thus avoiding harm to the environment. BPI Certification is given to those buildings which are Energy Efficient, which are durable, which maintain a better air quality, which provide a better thermal comfort and those buildings where the indoor moisture is minimum and can be controlled.
Moisture and bad air circulation are some of the major reasons for poor performance of the building – the other reasons being the improper insulation and duct system. The building envelope has to be restructured in these kinds of situations. With the help of the equipment such as blower door and combustion analyzer the building performance is analyzed and certified thereafter.
The auditor alone cannot certify the building. The results have to be shared with the BPI and only then the buildings will be rated accordingly.
