March of the energy efficiency experts
by Kellie Woodhouse
As going "green" becomes more fashionable, a new Silver Spring company is taking a fresh look on what it means to be eco-friendly for homeowners.
Energy Penguin, founded this past August, is an energy auditing business that advises customers on the rudimentary changes needed to make their homes energy efficient, safe and comfortable. The new start-up company educates homeowners on how the different components of a house interact with each other and what actions will efficiently improve its performance.
While the latest "green" homeowning craze includes solar panel heating systems and swamp coolers, Energy Penguin stresses that until a homeowner solves a house's elementary inefficiencies, large investments in "green" additions will not have the desired impact.
Instead, Energy Penguin makes sure heating and cooling systems operate efficiently, checks a home's basic structure for problem such as air leaks, evaluates its "comfort" by assessing airflow, and determines its "health" by searching for carbon monoxide leaks and dangerous mold growth.
"You want to take a look at the whole picture, or the whole house, before you decide to do things one at a time," Walt Auburn, the director of the Maryland Energy Administration's Energy Efficiency Program and a former energy auditor. "[Energy auditing] lays out the order of things to do and what's the most cost effective strategy."
The mastermind behind Silver Spring's fresh new take on energy efficient homes is former engineer and refrigeration specialist Gene Troy, a native to the Washington, D.C., area who studied engineering at George Washington University and business at Georgetown University. He's married to Energy Penguin's communications director, Susan Conbere, who works for an environmental consultant firm and as a "green" journalist for greenzag.com.
Troy used to work for a large engineering company that did a few energy audits for Maryland colleges. After a while, Troy became weary of the large corporate atmosphere. Since he already knew the basics of energy auditing, he took a refresher course with the Building Performance Institute and decided to branch out on his own. While still doing some independent refrigeration contracting, Troy launched his upstart company in the garage of his suburban house, will he continues to run it today
"I wasn't really learning anything new in my own job; I was getting kind of stale," said Troy, also emphasizing the appeal of owning a small business. "Working with a large company, you don't necessarily have a lot of opportunities to see the tangible benefits of your work. But when you're a small company working with individuals, when the job is done you know that you made a difference."
Troy said that homeowners usually don't understand that a house's small energy-depleting problems can make energy bills double in size. He said that because so many energy saving gadgets are highlighted in magazines and on televisions, homeowners usually assume such technologies are key to creating energy efficient homes.
Troy emphasizes the "bottom-up" philosophy his company abides by, saying that although Energy Penguin may be "less sexy" than other technologies, it services will best aide homeowners in their quest for energy efficiency homes.
Troy checks homes for comfort, indoor air quality, safety, durability, and energy efficiency, and he says he's "yet to find the perfect home."
But what's fun, Tory says, is finding out exactly which kinks are sabotaging a home's energy efficiency.
"I'm much more oriented towards trouble shooting and detective work, and this job is really satisfying because I get to do a lot of detective work," Troy said, "I like going in with my diagnostic equipment and giving the house a check up."
Auburn, from MEA, said that homes are often energy inefficient in ways that aren't obvious to the normal homeowner. He said that when homes are too cold in the winter, owners usually opt for new windows or the latest heating system. However, Auburn said that "leaks" in houses -small holes generally found in corners, attics, ceilings, and doorways- allow unwanted airflow inside. When all the minute "holes" are added together, most energy inefficient residences have about two square feet of space that is leaking outside air into the house. If a problem like this isn't fixed, new additions can be costly wastes.
"What's missing is the basics," agreed Conbere, "people often think about putting on the solar panels before they insulated the attic, and all they're savings can be just going out of the roof- literally."
Troy said that energy auditing usually saves people between 20 to 50 percent on their energy bills.
So Energy Penguin's "greening" mission makes sense, but what's with the penguin?
"We love penguins; we think they're cute," said Conbere, adding that penguins are Silver Spring's mascot. "[Troy's] really gotten into them, he went out and got these hats that have penguins on them; we have penguins all over house."
Photo: Master Penguin, Gene Troy
photo by Julie Wiatt
by Kellie Woodhouse
As going "green" becomes more fashionable, a new Silver Spring company is taking a fresh look on what it means to be eco-friendly for homeowners.Energy Penguin, founded this past August, is an energy auditing business that advises customers on the rudimentary changes needed to make their homes energy efficient, safe and comfortable. The new start-up company educates homeowners on how the different components of a house interact with each other and what actions will efficiently improve its performance.
While the latest "green" homeowning craze includes solar panel heating systems and swamp coolers, Energy Penguin stresses that until a homeowner solves a house's elementary inefficiencies, large investments in "green" additions will not have the desired impact.
Instead, Energy Penguin makes sure heating and cooling systems operate efficiently, checks a home's basic structure for problem such as air leaks, evaluates its "comfort" by assessing airflow, and determines its "health" by searching for carbon monoxide leaks and dangerous mold growth.
"You want to take a look at the whole picture, or the whole house, before you decide to do things one at a time," Walt Auburn, the director of the Maryland Energy Administration's Energy Efficiency Program and a former energy auditor. "[Energy auditing] lays out the order of things to do and what's the most cost effective strategy."
The mastermind behind Silver Spring's fresh new take on energy efficient homes is former engineer and refrigeration specialist Gene Troy, a native to the Washington, D.C., area who studied engineering at George Washington University and business at Georgetown University. He's married to Energy Penguin's communications director, Susan Conbere, who works for an environmental consultant firm and as a "green" journalist for greenzag.com.
Troy used to work for a large engineering company that did a few energy audits for Maryland colleges. After a while, Troy became weary of the large corporate atmosphere. Since he already knew the basics of energy auditing, he took a refresher course with the Building Performance Institute and decided to branch out on his own. While still doing some independent refrigeration contracting, Troy launched his upstart company in the garage of his suburban house, will he continues to run it today
"I wasn't really learning anything new in my own job; I was getting kind of stale," said Troy, also emphasizing the appeal of owning a small business. "Working with a large company, you don't necessarily have a lot of opportunities to see the tangible benefits of your work. But when you're a small company working with individuals, when the job is done you know that you made a difference."
Troy said that homeowners usually don't understand that a house's small energy-depleting problems can make energy bills double in size. He said that because so many energy saving gadgets are highlighted in magazines and on televisions, homeowners usually assume such technologies are key to creating energy efficient homes.
Troy emphasizes the "bottom-up" philosophy his company abides by, saying that although Energy Penguin may be "less sexy" than other technologies, it services will best aide homeowners in their quest for energy efficiency homes.
Troy checks homes for comfort, indoor air quality, safety, durability, and energy efficiency, and he says he's "yet to find the perfect home."
But what's fun, Tory says, is finding out exactly which kinks are sabotaging a home's energy efficiency.
"I'm much more oriented towards trouble shooting and detective work, and this job is really satisfying because I get to do a lot of detective work," Troy said, "I like going in with my diagnostic equipment and giving the house a check up."
Auburn, from MEA, said that homes are often energy inefficient in ways that aren't obvious to the normal homeowner. He said that when homes are too cold in the winter, owners usually opt for new windows or the latest heating system. However, Auburn said that "leaks" in houses -small holes generally found in corners, attics, ceilings, and doorways- allow unwanted airflow inside. When all the minute "holes" are added together, most energy inefficient residences have about two square feet of space that is leaking outside air into the house. If a problem like this isn't fixed, new additions can be costly wastes.
"What's missing is the basics," agreed Conbere, "people often think about putting on the solar panels before they insulated the attic, and all they're savings can be just going out of the roof- literally."
Troy said that energy auditing usually saves people between 20 to 50 percent on their energy bills.
So Energy Penguin's "greening" mission makes sense, but what's with the penguin?
"We love penguins; we think they're cute," said Conbere, adding that penguins are Silver Spring's mascot. "[Troy's] really gotten into them, he went out and got these hats that have penguins on them; we have penguins all over house."
Photo: Master Penguin, Gene Troy
photo by Julie Wiatt
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