Opening Blog

2009-09-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hello to all who read. This blog is my attempt to voice my opinion regarding an industry I am employed by, (home energy efficiency), and some of the the macro trends I see that may be somewhat troubling.

First off all, not all home energy raters are liberal, global warming alarmists, but the truth is MANY of them are. This is disconcerting to me as I am a home energy rater and want to avoid legitimate stereotypes that the general public has. I have politically conservative views and there are a few others that I know of who are with me.

So why am I in this line of work? Well, because it pays the bills of course, but some of the general principles are very common sense. Why not make your home as energy efficient as possible as long as it makes financial sense? Why not try to have your home perform as a healthy, durable domicile for you and your family? But my agreement ends there as there are some political stands that may be good for the environment but are also very bad for our economy and this great country which our generation has been entrusted with.

1. Cap and trade. The larger players in the industry seem to be very much in favor of this massive intrusion by the federal goverment into the private sector. In reality, this policy is based on bad science and creating regulation where none need be. In reality, this, "Cap and tax", program will cripple our national economy and business at the worst possible time. No studies point to an economic benefit from this program. Opinion from this fiscal conservative, THUMBS DOWN

2. Global Warming. The planet has been on a cooling trend since it's peak back in the 90s. The reality is that the planets climate is cyclical. IT DOES CHANGE. But the change is part of the cyclical nature of the climate. It will warm for some period, it will cool for some period, storms will be frequent one year, they will be sparse another. But for global calamity to be predicted because of a temperature increase of 1.8 degrees F over the period of 100 years is the most, "Chicken Little", type response to normal climate fluctuation. Al Gore of course is a great proponent of this propaganda as he stands to benefit financially from legislation which validates his hysteria. The biggest danger of this is that legislation will be made now as a knee jerk reaction to a temporary trend and our economy will suffer permanently from a hoax.

3. Energy Efficiency Industry Players are becoming political action groups more than working practically with people in the field who are trying to do this in a profitable manner. What starts as a small group to oversee energy ratings becomes a nepotistic group who spends time traveling to Europe and the Far East on the money squeezed from Raters and Providers. I understand that they feel that their purpose is to foster international legislation, treaties, and action so that the US will be locked into agreements that will make a service we have to sell into a mandate that will force progress towards their goals. But, I and the few of us out there do not want our country to become a Europeanized 2nd world country who has a crippled economy, jobs leaving our country for India and China, and an overpowering unconstitutional federal government.

So what do I want the home energy rating industry to pursue?

1. Economic conservation. Let's foster energy efficiency for the purpose of conserving homeowners' money.

2. Stop taking a side on Global Warming. Though it isn't scientific fact, why should we make decisions based on a false belief in global warming. In reality, whether it is hot or cold outside we want our homes to be energy efficient. Let's play devil's advocate here and say that the Earth warms by 5 degrees over the next twenty years. How would it affect our industry? Well maybe the climate zones defined by the IECC would have to be adjusted and we may have to rethink required R and U values for each zone, but we are still pursuing one thing. That is, energy efficiency which makes financial sense.

I could probably go on for a while here but my goal is to periodically post my opinion about what I see developing in our industry and hopefully change some public perceptions regarding home energy raters. Just as a side note, one day I was sitting in my parked, company vehicle and an older lady came up to my vehicle and asked, "What is energy conservation?", and then added is it all that global warming crap? I profusely had to explain to here that I didn't believe in or support that line of thinking. It is that public perception of energy raters as hippies and greenies that I wish to shed. I believe that will add legitimacy to our line of work. When energy raters are seen as providing a valuable service to the public and not trying to indoctrinate unwary homeowners with scare tactics, then we will have an industry that will survive the trends instead of coming a going with the trends based on bad science.

Well, till next time.

I look forward to all opinions, for and against.

Conservative Energy Efficiency

Opening Blog