In the News
Engineering Standards for Forensic Application
Haglid Engineering is pleased to announce CEO Klas Haglid’s chapter contribution to Engineering Standards for Forensic Application, edited by Dr. Richard McLay and Dr. Robert Anderson. Klas Haglid, P.E., R.A., CEM, contributed a chapter case study titled, Carbon...
Energy Efficiency Day 2018
October 5th, 2018 marks the third annual Energy Efficiency Day aimed at growing a network of advocates, companies, government agencies, and utilities for the purpose of spreading the news about the benefits of energy efficient practices. How can you take part on a...
Leave the Past Behind
At one point in history, people thought leeches were the answer to illness. There was a time when nobody batted an eye over a pregnant woman dangling a cigarette from her lips. Mercury was applied to cuts and scrapes. Happily, we learned better health practices through the years, didn’t we?
Go Big or Go Home
Depending on the publication or organization you consult, our atmosphere has sucked up enough energy-related emissions to bring us near, at, or past a point of no return where rising sea levels, heightened temperatures, and poor air quality wreak havoc on everything from weather to life itself.
Seeing is Believing
When school buildings choose clean energy retrofits, many of the benefits are obvious. Others not so much. Improved Indoor Air Quality does more than provide healthier learning environments: Public schools rely on average daily attendance rates to receive federal funding, so the potential for less student and staff sick days is important.
Net-Zero Buildings
Rarely, can you call someone or something ‘passive’ and have it come off as a compliment. Inactivity, especially in today’s society, comes off as just plain lazy in most circles. Oddly enough, adopting passive methods to power our homes just
might ignite the fastest, most powerful sprint toward a net-zero building stock. Passive energy practices cut back on energy use by 80%, ease harmful emissions, reduce reliance on the grid, save heaps of money, and offer the population far healthier indoor air quality (IAQ).
Why Measure Radon?
The following case study was undertaken by Klas Haglid in his 7,000-plus-sq.ft. New Jersey home to determine how much of a risk radon levels play in his family’s life. He wanted to see how far he could lower the levels and therefore cut the risk of radon-induced lung cancer proportionately.
Background: To ensure proper radon control, you need continual monitoring and a proper mitigation strategy. If you think the decent radon levels next door are good enough for you, think again. Your neighbor’s numbers have little to do with the levels in your home, so you can’t use generally low levels in your area to claim you are safe
What you don’t know about radon can kill you.
After radon was recognized as the culprit causing high rates of lung cancer in miners, most folks in the construction, realty, and engineering industries came to realize radon gas-a radioactive substance–is not our friend when it comes to indoor living. Still, the grim stats on radon-induced lung cancer deaths and the public’s poor understanding of the problem recently left our Indoor Air Quality experts at BPE, quite frankly, exasperated.
Onward & Upward
No matter how your day is going, we can all use a bit of good news. Even better, we all want to know that the work we do in the clean energy business is paying off. The 2017 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook can kick your day up a notch on both fronts. Produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, the Factbook provides up-to-date, accurate market information on strides made in energy efficiency, natural gas, and renewable energy. Here are a few snippets to depict progress in 2016 as well as put a little pep in your step:
PACE the Nation
What is it?: PACE or Property Assessed Clean Energy is an initiative to finance up to 100% of the cost for energy-related improvement projects on commercial, non-profit, and residential properties. Without the dread of upfront, out-of-pocket expenses that can be a deal-breaker for pursuing upgrades, property owners enjoy a payback period of up to 20 years, plus annual energy savings that typically exceed assessment payments. Ultimately, participants reap higher-value buildings with improvements that lower the cost of doing business.