Builders and policy makers are increasingly looking to design and promote zero energy buildings. Defined as “an energy-efficient building where, on a source energy basis, the actual annual delivered energy is less than or equal to the on-site renewable exported energy.” It is a fact that it takes more energy to heat water than any liquid or solid in the world and yet 99 percent of the population in North America heat water several times daily. It has been established that “STRUCTURED PLUMBING,” a concept of designing hot water distribution plumbing that will allow any fixture in the home or building to have hot water within 5 seconds at the request of the user. The design of electronic D’MAND KONTROLS™ into Structured Plumbing allows the distribution of hot water to circulate only when there is a demand by the user. This session will provide different examples of hot water distribution including Home Automation technologies and applications that can help support zero energy home objectives. We will be showing examples of designs and tests that have been completed over the last 15 years proving the savings of water/energy in residential and commercial buildings. We will be interviewing two Sustainable builders who have installed D’MAND KONTROLS for several years and get their view point on this and other factors to consider in building Zero Energy Homes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES---
1) Learn what the average savings of water, energy and reducing the Carbon Footprint are using D’MAND KONTROLS AND STRUCTURED PLUMBING® Designs, and how it impacts our natural resources.
2) Understand whether there are limitations for commercial and residential to apply this technology in new or existing buildings.
3) Recognize the advantages and ROI of this technology.
4) Demonstrate that this technology is readily available to train and install by contractors.
5) Learn that this technology is acceptable to the home owner and user friendly.

Instructors:  Jay Epstein, Darrel McMaster, Larry Acker