Jason Embick: Creating Healthy Buildings

00:00:00 Marker --- 00:00:00 Carlos Ramos: Welcome to Tomorrow Makers, where we explore how we learn, live, work, and play now and in the future. I'm Carlos Ramos. 00:00:11 Sumer Beatty: And I'm Sumer Beatty. 00:00:12 Carlos Ramos: Hey Sumer, how are you? 00:00:13 Sumer Beatty: I'm doing well, how are you? 00:00:14 Carlos Ramos: I'm doing great too. We just got this snow this morning that was like gravel falling on everything. Really weird. 00:00:20 Sumer Beatty: It was weird, it was so weird. Yeah, we've had some wacky weather. 00:00:24 Carlos Ramos: How's your house holding up? 00:00:26 Sumer Beatty: It's blowing around over there in South Williamsport. Those wind gusts, I'm not sure about We have a special guest today and I was thinking, boy, those wind gusts, what kind of leaks do we have going on? 00:00:39 Carlos Ramos: You almost got a natural blower door test. 00:00:41 Sumer Beatty: Yes, yes, for sure. I just walk around and see where the air is leaking in. 00:00:46 Carlos Ramos: So who do we have today that's going to help us out? 00:00:48 Sumer Beatty: Yes, so we've got Jason Embick and he's coming to us from the Clean Energy Center. 00:00:53 Carlos Ramos: Clean Energy Center. 00:00:54 Sumer Beatty: Yes. 00:00:55 Carlos Ramos: That sounds different than what we normally do around here. 00:00:57 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, so we often work in the academic side here in marketing. 00:01:02 Carlos Ramos: Meaning you and me and what we're doing here. 00:01:04 Sumer Beatty: Yes, exactly. And on the podcast, our guests so far have been more on the academic side. So we, we're broadening our wings here and we love to learn. That's why we're here, right? 00:01:14 Carlos Ramos: Yeah. So Clean Energy Center, part of Workforce Development, Workforce Development serving all of industry. I mean, our academics serve industry too. Industry is one of the customer. segments that we have. I mean, yes, we're, we're teaching our students, but our students are ultimately going out and serving industry. Workforce Development, serving them directly because, well, you don't stop learning when you get out of college, or maybe you didn't go to college and you need training and your company wants you to learn a little bit more about how to do blower tests. 00:01:46 Sumer Beatty: It's full circle. Yeah, it's a comprehensive approach here at Penn College. 00:01:51 Carlos Ramos: So this one gets a little bit more Jason, you know, he talks about what's going on in a clean energy center. So if you're used to kind of that academic approach and how we're talking about kids, you know, getting their hands on training, that is still happening. It's just a different way. So Jason gets into a lot of detail and there's so much stuff that he has. It's fantastic. So ride along with it. For those who are just like, how do I lower my heating bill? Well, we have that too. 00:02:15 Sumer Beatty: Yes. 00:02:16 Carlos Ramos: It just takes us a moment to get there. 00:02:18 Sumer Beatty: It's worth it, though. 00:02:19 Carlos Ramos: It is. All right. So you want to get into it? 00:02:22 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, absolutely. Let's do it. All right. So we're here with Jason Embick from the Clean Energy Center. Welcome. 00:02:35 Jason Embick: Thank you. Appreciate you having me. 00:02:37 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, this is great, because before we were rolling, we were talking about Clean Energy Center and clean energy in general, and I don't think a lot of people know what that is. So we hope this conversation sheds some light on that. 00:02:48 Jason Embick: Yeah, I'll do my best to explain. 00:02:50 Sumer Beatty: All right. So let's just start from the top. What is clean energy? 00:02:54 Jason Embick: You know, if you were to look up the definition of what clean energy is, you'll see something to the effect that it's something that emits little or has no impact to the environment, regardless of what energy an individual uses. Whether it be a fossil fuel, nuclear, renewable, there's going to be an impact. We need to look at all energy types as resources, as a supply. And we need to realize that no resources are unlimited. So it's up to us to use as little of those resources as possible. That's what makes the energy as clean as possible. 00:03:33 Sumer Beatty: Okay, so use less. Yeah, so whatever you're using, use the least amount of it as possible to get the same outcome. 00:03:41 Carlos Ramos: That seems so counter to, well not counter, but in alignment, but it's not what you would think of when you just go out on the street and hear people describe what clean energy is. They're going to say, oh, it's solar, it's wind, it's, but you're, you're saying it could be really any of the sources, but how we're using it and how much we're using it. 00:04:02 Jason Embick: Yeah, exactly. Renewables are an important part of the equation as well, but it's not, you know, a hundred percent of the equation. You know, so, we're never going to change everything all at one time. So, you know, fossil fuel use, you know, nuclear generation, things like that, how do we make that the most, efficient, you know, with what we are using to reduce the amount. 00:04:27 Sumer Beatty: And so that's where the Clean Energy Center comes in, right? 00:04:30 Jason Embick: Yeah. 00:04:30 Sumer Beatty: Okay. So how are you supporting with your initiatives? 00:04:33 Jason Embick: Yeah. So the Clean Energy Center, we focus our training and around energy efficiency. So regardless of what sector we cross residential, we do commercial program areas. We've also done agricultural in the past, all geared toward energy efficiency, identifying those opportunities and how to resolve them to reduce their energy consumption. 00:04:57 Carlos Ramos: I think we can all intuit that if we're more efficient with our energy use, we're going to save money. What are some of the other ways that energy efficiency matters? 00:05:07 Jason Embick: You know, even if you're gearing toward renewable in the future, if that's somebody's end goal, you know, if you were to put a system in currently, you may have a system twice as large as what you needed. So, you know, any resources that want to create the products that are going to supply your energy in the future, You would be requiring twice as many of them. So you were using twice as much energy to produce them versus if you just went through and made the home as efficient as possible first, you may only need a system half that size. 00:05:40 Sumer Beatty: I'm thinking as, and I'm sure other, our listeners may be thinking this, is my system properly fitted for the home? You know, and I know residential, like you said, is just a piece of it. So how does one find out? Is my system correct for my home? Is it too big? Is it too small? 00:05:55 Jason Embick: I mean, the true way is to have a energy assessment done on your home. So, you know, there's a lot of different ways. I think we'll get into that throughout the conversation here this morning is to have that energy assessment done and see. Look at your home, how it exists right now, and look at what potential energy efficiency upgrades that you can make. And what would the energy use be when I'm done with the project? So, you know, that's key, taking what you're currently using and what could it potentially be. And then, you know, people have to make that decision, you know, from a cost effective standpoint, things like that, what they want to do to get to the end goal of having the most energy efficient home. 00:06:41 Sumer Beatty: So if I'm understanding this correctly, so your group is doing trainings to prepare energy efficiency professionals for their role to come out into the home or to the business. 00:06:54 Jason Embick: Yes, yeah, correct. So, residentially, commercially, you know, we're teaching these low cost, no cost improvements that can be made, you know, as well as being able to accurately assess, you know, where a current structure is and what we can do to improve that. So, always start with the low hanging fruit, the low cost, no cost. We'll get into that a little bit, you know, but then also, you know, what are the investments that can be made that'll get a return on my investment and then actually. You know, largely reduce that energy consumption to get me down to the least amount of energy as possible. 00:07:31 Sumer Beatty: I'm curious about the origin of the Clean Energy Center because I think maybe our listeners might be thinking, Now what does this have to do with Penn College and our mission? So why, why the Clean Energy Center? How did that originate? 00:07:44 Jason Embick: Yeah, so the Clean Energy Center originated back in 1985 and started out as the Weatherization Training Center. After that, it went through a couple name changes. when I started nine years ago, we were called National Sustainable Structure Center. In 2021, we rebranded to the Clean Energy Center. You know, this was in an effort to better reflect the evolving energy efficiency workforce that's out there. So we've been the clean energy center now since 2021, so, but we've been in existence since 1985. 00:08:22 Sumer Beatty: Ahead of the curve, really. 00:08:24 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, we've been doing mainly residential, you know, back in 1985 and then over 10 years ago we got into the commercial space as well, which we'll talk our commercial programs here in a bit. We've been the training and technical assistance provider for the Pennsylvania Weatherization Assistance Program since then. 00:08:44 Sumer Beatty: Okay, and then how does that fit into the Penn College mission? 00:08:48 Jason Embick: Yeah, so with the Penn College mission, you know, looking at, inspiring and preparing tomorrow makers, the next generation of industry leaders, real world experience and innovative spirit. We always work on incorporating technology into our trainings, keeping up with the newest codes and standards, what technologies are out there, to keep up with that industry need. This helps us better prepare our students by practicing what they learned and then also taking those new skills out into the workforce. A lot of our students are very mission driven. You know, aiming to improve the lives of those that are helping out in their community. So I think that aligns very well with the college mission. 00:09:38 Sumer Beatty: So let's talk about that residential side. What is your team doing to work with home energy professionals? 00:09:45 Jason Embick: So on the residential energy efficiency, that's the core of our business. So that's where it all started back in 1985. For those that may not be aware, let me take a minute to explain the weatherization assistance program. At the federal level, the Weatherization Assistance Program is funded by the United States Department of Energy. The funds are passed down from the federal level to the state and is administered by Department of Community Economic Development. So, the funds from DCD then pass on to 33 weatherization agencies throughout the state. Part of that funding is also set aside and we are funded through DCD as well to provide that weatherization training and technical assistance to the state employees. So the weatherization program in whole provides assistance to low income households by helping increase the energy efficiency in their home but also making sure that they're healthy and safe as well. Energy burden is looking at what percentage of a household's income is spent on their energy costs. If that amount is greater than 6 percent of your annual income, that's considered high. Many of the homes that our students go out and serve, they're looking at above 15 percent energy burden. So 15 percent of their income, Pennsylvania has a very old housing stock and is in need of, you know, repair and getting everything up to energy efficiency standards. So that's where the program helps out, and our students have a huge impact on that. in their communities. So at the federal level, Department of Energy, they have program regulations and part of that is training. You know, they require anybody in the workforce to have an amount of training based on what job they're performing. So we come in, we hold accreditation for four different job classifications and weatherization. So that'd be the retrofit installer. That would be the crews that are out there doing the work and installing the things that are going to make your home more energy efficient. The crew leader, which oversees the installers out on the job. They kind of oversee the job out in the field. Also the energy auditor. They're the ones that go out first and look at the house as it is existing and then look at what they can do to improve that to make that more energy efficient. The last job classification we have is quality control inspector. And the quality control inspector, after all the work is done, they go out and inspect to make sure everything was done up to current standards of the program. One of the other regulations that they have that tie into our residential area is the quality control inspection needs to have a certification attached to it, so the person performing that has to have a certification. So we also are a test center for a building performance institute, which we offer the national certification proctoring services for written and field exams. So the workers in that job classification have to go through the training and then they get their certification at the end. If they're successful with their certification, then they are able to perform that function out in the field. 00:13:32 Sumer Beatty: Okay, wow, that's a lot. Yeah, you're busy. So is there a component within the career and technical education sector as well? Like, are you working with students at that level? 00:13:43 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So recently, over the last couple years, there was some funding put into place through the bipartisan infrastructure law, and that expanded our need for training and technical assistance as well. Prior to that funding, you know, typically somebody, one of the weatherization agencies would hire somebody on and they would come to us for training. So now I came to the spot with this funding, there is a huge demand to work that needs to be done in addition to what was already there. So some agencies, it tripled. and almost quadrupled the amount of work that needs to be done. So, you know, with the drought out there of employees and the competitiveness out there for the workforce, we've been tasked with trying to recruit as well. So we've tried some other ways to do this. We tried some job readiness program and over the last year we've really ramped up through our job readiness program and getting building science training into our career and technical centers. Like I said, over the last year or so, the goal is to get that training to the instructors and educate and prepare the high school students for in demand careers in that weatherization industry. Last summer, we brought on five instructors from five different schools. And this fall, we brought on an additional 23 teachers. from another 15 schools. So there we're able to expand the awareness out there of the weatherization program and what building science is. Building science is already in all the trades, but it's making that awareness out there and creating that potential career path for somebody, you know, to be part of that. So some students will take an interest in it and say, yes, this is what I want to do. But if it's into the construction trades, the HVAC trades, the electrical trades, there's energy efficiency built into all those. It's just a matter of realizing it. So the goal of this, ultimately, what we want to try to do is match some of those students up, going through the CTC program to express an interest with that work with local employers in the area that need the workers to be able to get this job done. 00:16:14 Carlos Ramos: So are these students then that go right into the workforce or do they end up, because each of those areas you mentioned, there are areas where we have academic programs here as well, do they end up feeding into that and then taking their careers, you know, further? 00:16:27 Jason Embick: I think it'd be a blend of both. I think some people that would be in the HVAC field just want to stay strictly there. There are HVAC subcontractors within the program as well. So it's still learning that energy efficiency piece. It's good to pass on to all the trades, even if they plan to go to academic programs. But then if somebody chooses that they aren't going to go to academic programs and want to go directly into the workforce, this is an opportunity as well where they can go directly out into the workforce and help with the weatherization program and work for one of the agencies out there or potentially start their own business and be a subcontractor for one of those weatherization agencies. 00:17:13 Carlos Ramos: So it's a wonderful way for a student coming out of high school or an adult learner who's already in the field to scale up. 00:17:20 Jason Embick: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, and once somebody is a weatherization worker signed on with an agency, they also have the benefit of being able to come back for additional training. So the program, you know, as being a training and technical assistance provider, and the required trainings through the program, They had the entry training right at the CTC level, but now they can continue on that education. So last summer we got a apprenticeship approved. Penn College is the sponsor of our Energy Specialist Apprenticeship. So that would be at the Energy Auditor level. And so thinking of the CTC program and trying to blend that together as like a pre apprenticeship for those that want to go into that. Once they are in the program, then, and they're working for an agency, they could come back through and come through that full apprenticeship program to become that registered apprentice. 00:18:20 Carlos Ramos: Alright, you promised we'd go deep, and I'm trying to follow the web of everything we just talked about. 00:18:25 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, I think what would help me is, I'm just curious what the format's like. Are these students coming to campus in one of your facilities? I think you have four different locations. How are they receiving this training? 00:18:38 Jason Embick: Yeah, so they're receiving that training directly. So as part of the career readiness program, we partnered with the Earth Forward Group, which is a group out of Connecticut. They did something similar in the state of Connecticut. Now their school program, you know, I think it was, it was a smaller amount of schools that they had to and more of a standardized curriculum across the school, but partnering with them, they've been helping us go out and do train the trainers, you know, with the CTCs in the state of Pennsylvania. So they're teaching them how to teach us curriculum, teach at building science principles. And at the end of it. You know, the students will be able to get a building science principal certificate of knowledge through the Building Performance Institute, which I mentioned earlier that we do proctoring for, for certifications. So it is a very entry level certificate of knowledge, but it is a prerequisite for some of those other certificates. So it gets them involved, and all your CTC instructors, you know, will be teaching this throughout blended with their other curriculum. So that's how it's hitting. They're not physically coming to one of our locations. It's being done at their current CTC with their current instructor. 00:20:02 Sumer Beatty: Okay, so what about like that home energy professional? Are they getting training at one of the locations then? 00:20:09 Jason Embick: So if an agency hires somebody on or gets with a new contractor to perform the work that's being done out in the field, with this being required training through the home energy professional trainings that we offer, that's how we currently get our students. Sometimes we get people outside of the program that want to learn, you know, with some of the building codes and things like that. New building construction requires blower door testing and things like that, which isn't something that people know how to do right away. So, you know, that is one of our core trainings that we offer is that blower door testing. So occasionally we'll get a contractor that's not going to do weatherization, but may want to know how to do that and add that as one of their services, they will come to training as well. But the majority of them are those that are in the weatherization workforce supporting that weatherization assistance program. As you had mentioned, we have three locations currently. We have the Williamsport site that's been there since 1985. 2021, we opened the site out in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and also in Harrisburg. So, with the volume of students that we need, We've been able to fill classes at all three of those facilities and we offer them year round. So, we have a lot of students coming in, you know, needing this home energy professional training to be able to get that work done that's needed out in the field. 00:21:41 Carlos Ramos: And a fourth location is opening? 00:21:43 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, correct. So we're looking at, we're opening a fourth location out in Pittsburgh, and that'll be opening up this spring. So it's currently being put together right now, so we're very excited about that. That's going to be probably around the April time frame, we'll be ready. So we'll be able to get things up and running there and help support the workforce needs in that area as well. 00:22:11 Carlos Ramos: Excellent. 00:22:13 Sumer Beatty: Alright, so I think we covered a lot of what you're doing in the residential sector, now what are the services that you're offering in commercial? 00:22:21 Jason Embick: We do training throughout the Mid Atlantic. Within our commercial sector, we do commercial building retuning, which that course is a systematic approach to identifying low cost, low cost energy savings opportunities by optimizing building systems and operations to enhance efficiency and performance. That's a one day in classroom and a lot of time it's, also has a one day building walk down, which is pretty cool. You take the class and walk around with different tools to help diagnose those opportunities and they get an idea how to go back to their facilities and be able to do that. 00:22:59 Sumer Beatty: Oh, and just one day. Yeah. I mean, that seems like a no brainer. I can't, they look like heroes. They're going back and it's like, Whoa, they just saved. I'm imagining it adds up quickly. 00:23:10 Jason Embick: Oh, it adds up very quickly. A lot of the low cost, no cost, you know, you walk by it every day and don't realize it. And then once you're exposed to it, there's a huge financial impact on that. We did a 360 walkthrough on campus here, so we, we made this offering virtual as well. So that building walk down, so we did a couple buildings here on the campus. We did a 360 walkthrough, looking for opportunities here as well, so it's good to see them be resolved as well and see being able to save that energy. 00:23:43 Sumer Beatty: Maybe this is an oversimplification, but are the practices and tools used generally very similar for residential and commercial? It's just sort of, you know, at a larger scale for commercial? 00:23:56 Jason Embick: Yeah, it's definitely at a larger scale. Buildings are a little more complex, but you know, the biggest opportunity for your improvement is your building shell. So, you know, if you think of a house, you got six sides, right? You know, you got your floor ceiling and you got four walls. So, you know, what that connects to, you know, some basements are conditioned, some are unconditioned. You know, same thing with attics. You can find them conditioned and unconditioned as well, but essentially it's a box, right? You know, so even commercially, it's just a much larger box, you know, but similar systems, you know, you have your electric, you have your plumbing, you have your HVAC, you know, similar to a residential structure. So, yeah, a lot of the tools are very similar and it's a very similar concept. 00:24:46 Sumer Beatty: Do you hear indirectly that people are generally willing to make the investment? Because I have a feeling it's probably a lot of investments you have to put a little up front to save over the long term. Do people welcome that? 00:24:58 Jason Embick: Yeah, I think so. You know, and part of what we teach as we go through this, you know, we look at different things. So talking commercially as well, you know, we teach a course on benchmarking. And when you benchmark a building, You're looking at energy use per square foot of space, and you're comparing that to others that benchmark their building, so you can see how you score, you know, related to others. And, you know, if you have a much lower score, you're like, well, this is the same type of space, so whether it be a gymnasium, whether it be classrooms, things like that, you know, hey, I got a lot of room for energy improvement. And then we also teach, you know, how do you do that return on investment. So, estimating how much you're going to save by how much you invest. So that'll give you a simple payback, you know, over a couple years. So that makes it a little easier to make those decisions, you know, and making sure that you're doing them accurately. So at the end of the day, yes, this is a wise decision. I'm going to invest a couple thousand dollars, but I'm going to save tens of thousands of dollars. 00:26:07 Sumer Beatty: It seems simple when you put it that way. 00:26:09 Carlos Ramos: I'm ready to get an assessment on my house. 00:26:11 Sumer Beatty: Me too. I know. I'm very ready. 00:26:13 Carlos Ramos: You've got the foam right there. 00:26:17 Sumer Beatty: I know, but I was seeing dollar signs. So that's why I was thinking are people... I also really want to move, really want to move. It's a theme. So it's like, well, you know, if you do invest that you're, If you're going to be in the same place for 15, 20, 30 years, then it pays off. But what about two years? Or what about six months? 00:26:35 Jason Embick: Yeah, and that's a trade off a lot of people have to make as well. Commercially, you know, we also, we do building operator certification, which is a level one and level two training. It's a comprehensive certification program that provides building operators with those skills and knowledge needed to maintain and improve energy performance in their commercial buildings. And we also have a Fundamentals of Energy Efficient Building Operations, which is more of an entry level. It's tailored specifically for new or less experienced building operators. And it gives the basics of overall efficient buildings with an emphasis on practical strategies for reducing energy consumption. So, if you had somebody newer, you know, it makes them aware earlier in their career. And then later on, you know, they would be able to come back and do that building operator certification and actually be able to apply those for savings. 00:27:39 Sumer Beatty: Do you usually have the future student connecting with you, or is that usually their employer that says, Hey, I want you to pursue this. It just sounds like such a great career opportunity, as you mentioned, you know, to just level up and make yourself more marketable. 00:27:56 Jason Embick: Yeah, it's nice to have a career path. I think there's some of students pushing their employers, you know, Hey, I want to want to get this training, you know, they're, they're truly, you know, involved in this and, you know, they believe in the mission and, you know, they want to make these things as efficient as possible. I mean, when you're talking commercial buildings, I mean, you're talking a large amount of money. You know, you look at different programs and things like that, you know, that can help a, you know, a district or somebody make that decision. You know, hey, we can keep a program. We can save this much energy. We can keep this program going, you know, versus having to make those difficult decisions. So, the energy savings is huge out there commercially. So, you know, it's also, you know, the student a lot of times will push for that, but the employers buy in as well because they realize what that can do, you know, for their facilities. 00:28:53 Sumer Beatty: Oh, absolutely. So let's talk about electrification and solar PV. So I saw this on your website and I'm not sure what it is, but maybe you can tell us. 00:29:04 Jason Embick: As I mentioned earlier, you know, some of the funding we received over the last couple of years allowed us to expand our programs, you know, to help with the need out there. And, this is one area that we're expanding into as well. We have a solar program manager that runs this program and, covers both the electrification piece and the solar. So, if you look up electrification, you know, that would be explained as replacing non electric energy sources. With electricity, so things that use your fossil fuels and things like that, you know, turning them into electric appliances. 00:29:43 Sumer Beatty: What would be an example of something like that? 00:29:46 Jason Embick: So if you have an oil or gas fired furnace. 00:29:49 Sumer Beatty: Okay. 00:29:50 Jason Embick: So, is that a good potential? Can we just go put a heat pump in there? A heat pump would be supplied with electric and that would get rid of the fossil fuel that was currently being used. So that's kind of the goal of the electrification. Gas ovens, replace them with electric ovens, things like that. So getting a home, all ready to be all electric, we look at this as a three step approach. Step one is energy efficiency. Make your home as efficient as possible. I mentioned earlier, if you don't do things in the right order, or you just jump and say, Hey, I'm going to go straight to renewables. You may have a system twice as large as what you actually need. First step is that energy efficiency piece. Step two would be upgrading those non electric appliances to electric appliances. Like I mentioned, switching out a fossil fuel furnace or a boiler with a heat pump. So now I made the home as efficient as I could make it. Now I can properly size the system to be able to meet the needs of the home. If you did that step first, You would have a heat pump twice the size of what you needed, and then you chose to go back and do the energy efficiency after, then you would have a way oversized system. So, this is important that you're following these three steps. And then step three. would be to install solar to generate the amount of electricity needed to be able to supply that home. We've always taught that first step of the energy efficiency. Last year we developed a heat pump design and commission course and that teaches students the process required to obtain that maximum efficiency of a heat pump system. So it's not just the heat pump itself, you have your duct system, everything like that. You could have a very efficient heat pump. But if your distribution or your dock system is inefficient, the whole system in itself is not efficient at all. You're not going to get the return on your investment. Next month, we're going to be launching our first Solar PV 101 class. Very excited to say that this is going to be a blend of online as well as in person. In this class, the students will learn about the fundamentals of solar PV design and installation. and also how to properly assess a home for a potential solar project. So, is this a good fit? You know, if you have trees overshadowing where you want to put the solar, you know, it may not be a good fit. You know, if it's not oriented in the right direction, it may not be a good fit. If the roof is in bad condition, it might not. So, teaching the students, you know, as an auditor to be able to go in and make that assessment. Yeah, this would be a good fit. I got step one done. I got step two done. Now we're ready for step three. So it's pulling all that together that's gonna help, you know, make sure that we're utilizing funding the right way. You know, there's a lot of rebate programs out there and things that help with this, but if you're not doing it in the right order We're really not doing the programs any justice. 00:33:08 Sumer Beatty: So you mentioned earlier No cost or low cost options. I heard a lot about buying new systems and all of that stuff fun stuff. But I'm thinking, what are those? And maybe it's, is it still step one? Can we start at step one? Like, what are those no cost, low cost things, at least for homeowners? Like, what can we do? 00:33:30 Jason Embick: The first one's probably the most simple. If you can turn it off, turn it off. If you can turn it down, turn it down, you know. So if it's off, you're saving energy. If you can turn it down, you're saving energy. That's one of the first things that we always say. 00:33:46 Sumer Beatty: Can you go into the schools and tell our children that they need to turn their lights off when they leave the room? 00:33:53 Jason Embick: There are schools and we've had, students come through the BOC and everything like they've implemented programs in the schools, you know, and you had students that enforce that with the teachers in the school. Hey, hey, you let the lights on, you know, so it's teaching that, you know, at that young age, getting them involved as well as important to this in the future. 00:34:15 Sumer Beatty: Okay. I like that. Thank you. 00:34:17 Jason Embick: Yeah. Other low cost, no cost, you know, typically we would say if a light's on more than two hours a day, make sure it's an LED bulb, you know, that's going to be your most efficient bulb. I don't know. I haven't looked. I don't know if you can still buy incandescents, but You know, it's a great savings to put an LED in versus using an incandescent 00:34:38 Sumer Beatty: I always do appreciate when i'm shopping for something as simple as a light bulb You can look on and see what the annual cost is And you can kind of compare products and it's like okay Well, this one might be a little bit more but boy, it's a lot more efficient 00:34:52 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, and that's the wise decision to go with that. You know, do the most efficient bulb that you can light the space with to meet the needs, and that will save you energy over time, definitely. 00:35:04 Carlos Ramos: And some of those are approaching the incandescent quality of light. 00:35:10 Jason Embick: Yeah. Yeah. There's many different ones. So, you know, there's ones very close. Some of them are called daylight, you know, some produce a very white light. So, yeah, they have definitely improved over the years and that quality. So, you know, other things that you can do low cost or no cost, you know, one of your huge costs at home is actually heating water, rIght? So the amount of hot water that you use. And a low cost, you know, making sure you have low faucet aerators and shower heads on, you know, you still get the amount of water that you need to get the job done. But a lot of times you can cut that rate of hot water in half. So if you're only using half the water you're heating half the water. So, that's a good way to save energy as well. Air sealing, that would be another easy one. Air sealing around your baseboards, like I said, the building shell before is six sides. So, if you have an unconditioned basement, you know, around your baseboards, you can take off the baseboard and put caulking around there, make sure air is not coming up from that unconditioned basement, or coming in around there. Around doors and windows, if you're feeling drafts, you know, you can take the molding off and make sure that you're caulking in around behind there and, you know, putting the materials back on, you know, all that helps. My house was deeded 1901. It was built in the 1800s. So, that's when they started deeding them. And, one winter, you know, I didn't have new windows or anything in. And I decided to put the plastic film over the windows. We were in the house a couple years already and one year I just decided to do that. And my wife said, are you kidding me? You know, the difference that that makes. So even if you do things like that, you know, that's gonna be a huge comfort, you know, as well as that energy savings. It made a huge impact. You put the film on, you use a hairdryer, you can still see out the window. Most people don't open their windows in the winter and then you can take it off in the spring. 00:37:17 Sumer Beatty: Do you have a sense of what potential energy savings, like what cost savings you could achieve just for like a 2,000 square foot house? Do a few of those things have, do you have any success stories of, you know, maybe projects you've worked on directly or indirectly where people have come back and said, Oh my goodness, like, I've saved this much in my home. Those tangibles, I think, could be helpful. 00:37:42 Jason Embick: Yeah, Department of Energy put some things out, you know, and typically, you're going to see a couple hundred dollar savings a year, you know, on these, you know, some of these investments that you're putting in there. You know, that couple hundred dollars a year is going to increase over time. There's not any utility rates that are going down. So it may be 300 saving this year. That may equate to 310 next year and so on. So. 00:38:08 Sumer Beatty: Let's hope. 00:38:08 Jason Embick: Yeah, it definitely adds up over time. One thing I did personally about 10 years ago is I put in a heat pump water heater versus just a straight electric water heater. Immediately, I saw a $30 to $40 a month decrease in my electric bill. So, I mean, there was five of us in the household, so we used a fair amount of hot water. But that roughly, I mean without running the numbers, I would say less than a three year payback. And there were rebates for that out there as well, so with the rebates at the time, it costs more than a standard electric water heater but if you're getting a three year return, and you know, I'm 10 years into this, you know, that's just savings that's added up over them 10 years. 00:38:59 Carlos Ramos: I had something similar with an older TV that we had, not the big old boxes, but still not the super thin ones that we have today. And that was a $20 drop a month, just for the TV. 00:39:10 Jason Embick: That's awesome. Yeah. And, and you look for those energy guides on the appliances and different electronics and things, you know, they tell you upfront what you can expect to spend on that a year. So, you know, that's great. One of the other things, you know, a lot of people, you want to make sure that you're taking care of. You want to make sure that you're getting annual maintenance on that, keeping that clean, as well as changing the filters out throughout the year, you know, that's a low cost, but making sure you're getting the most airflow, you're paying to heat that furnace up, you want to make sure that that heat gets to your living space. So making sure you're doing regular maintenance on that and making sure you're changing the filters regularly. You know, that's a big energy savings as well. 00:40:00 Carlos Ramos: All right, so I need an argument settled for home. 90 days to change those filters, or do we have to do this every month? 00:40:06 Jason Embick: It depends on, conditions as well. You, you know, pets, dust, things like that, you know. I typically change mine monthly. 00:40:15 Sumer Beatty: Okay, so I'm like, do I have a filter? I didn't want to ask. But oh my goodness, we're two different households. I don't even know if I have a filter. 00:40:28 Jason Embick: Yeah, if you have, registers that blow the air out... 00:40:31 Sumer Beatty: I do not. 00:40:31 Jason Embick: ...you have a filter. Okay, so that's a good thing. So if you have the radiators along the wall... 00:40:36 Sumer Beatty: Yes. 00:40:36 Jason Embick: ...that would be a boiler, more than likely or electric baseboard heat. You won't have a filter with that. 00:40:43 Sumer Beatty: Okay, good. 00:40:43 Jason Embick: But if it is a boiler, you want to make sure you're getting that serviced annually. 00:40:48 Sumer Beatty: Okay, good to know. 00:40:50 Carlos Ramos: And, and what micron do I need to go down to? Do I have to buy the $40 filter or am I good buying the $15 filter? 00:40:57 Jason Embick: It depends on what your need. one thing that it will do, you know, the higher the micron filter, it's also going to reduce the amount of airflow. To me, I mean, I'm not the expert on this at all, but, you know, to me, you know, sometimes putting that one in at the less and changing it more frequently, you're going to get that adequate amount of airflow. You know, there's different standards out there, what they say, you know, they recommend, what MERV rating filter that they would want. So, you know, that would be something to look at as well, you know, MERV ratings for residential. 00:41:35 Carlos Ramos: Okay, great. 00:41:37 Sumer Beatty: Okay, so we talked about a lot of things and I'm sure we're just scratching the surface. Is there a resource that our listeners can go to that you might recommend where we can just make sure we have like almost a checklist? What are we? We're going to go home and we're going to check these things. 00:41:52 Jason Embick: Energystar.gov/saveathome, you know, it's a nice interactive website, you know, that you can go to, you know, they hit different sections like the heating and cooling, which we talked a little bit about. They talk about sealing and insulating, so different things you can do there to save. And also Expert Home Improvements, that's an interactive house that you can go around and click on different objects and they'll give you recommendations of what you can do to save energy. Other places, you know, that are good to go to is your utility provider. So going to their website and seeing they put recommended tips on there as well as they list rebate programs. What rebate programs are out there, you know, a lot of these things they'll help pay for it. So even the low cost no cost Even a lot of schools and stuff like that will give the kids out kits You know with those low faucet aerators shower heads led lights things like that. So they're out there. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. They have a website specific to the new home energy rebate program. So part of the bill and IRA funding, the Inflation Reduction Act, there is a home energy rebate program out there as well, pennenergysavers.com. So they're currently updating that and providing information out there on different rebates that are available out there. I mentioned I put a heat pump water heater in 10 years ago. I know that's one of them that is, you know, going to be available out there. You know, as well as heat pumps for your home, you know, different things like that. So it's always worthwhile going there and seeing what's available. 00:43:45 Sumer Beatty: Awesome. We'll include those in the show notes. I think we should talk about the Clean Energy House. That's exciting. Can you tell us a little bit about the clean energy house that's going to be built here in Penn? On campus or near campus? 00:43:59 Jason Embick: Yeah, as part of a grant from the Department of Commerce and Economic Development Administration, the Clean Energy House is going to be a house that's going to be built right off campus, right on the edge of campus, and it's going to be used for training home energy professional students and used for certification testing. It's nice we have houses inside our labs. You mentioned you've been to our lab before. We can get the training concepts across, but when you don't have Mother Nature involved in this, this house is truly going to have Mother Nature involved in it. It's going to act as a real organism out there and allow the students to accurately do what they're going to be doing out in the field. 00:44:45 Sumer Beatty: Real world experience. 00:44:46 Jason Embick: Yeah, definitely. That's what we're after. We can simulate some things in a lab, but there's nothing like being exposed to the environment. I mean, what, we were negative yesterday, you know, and today, single digits in the morning. You know, the impact that has from a building science perspective, and you know, the way air flow enters a building, you know, with those difference in temperatures inside and outside. That's what really helps connect the dots for the students. So, it's tough to simulate in a lab. We can do it, but there's nothing like having it out in the real world. 00:45:24 Sumer Beatty: Awesome. So, when's that slated to be finished? 00:45:27 Jason Embick: it's in the works right now. You know, optimistic that, you know, hopefully by fall, you know, we may have, hopefully by fall, we'll have something in place over there and be able to start offering that up. You know, in our labs here with the academic programs as well, you know, there's a nice tie in there. Since I started nine years ago, we, we've always had sustainability class coming over, you know, when we would demonstrate how to run the blower door, you know, it was in their curriculum and everything. So we were always happy to host that class coming over. And over the last couple of years, some of the construction students, as I mentioned, the residential codes got more stringent, you know, over the years, so we've had several classes coming over. So this will be an opportunity as well, you know, for the academic students to be exposed to a home in the real world environment as well. So, very excited about that. 00:46:27 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, that's fantastic. And they're involved in building the actual home, correct? 00:46:32 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, so I, I know the one class, I, I, don't quote me on this, but I think it was, buildings and material selection, you know, that they would come over, and, we would demonstrate the blower door and show how to do the calculation of how many, what the air leakage rate was. And, you know, that's, that's key, you know, as you're going out and doing new construction, make sure you're selecting the right materials and applying them properly. So, you know, so at the end of the day, you're going to have the most efficient structure. 00:47:04 Sumer Beatty: Yeah, that's great to connect to the academic and the workforce development piece. It just works hand in hand. 00:47:09 Jason Embick: Yeah, yeah, it's always great to connect with them. we, we always love having the students come over and, you know, it, it can be very eye opening. So it, I've never seen a blower door before I've worked here and, I asked a ton of questions when I first started here and, and, my boss at the time and other instructors, they were like, Oh, just hold on a minute. You know, I'd be like, why is this? Why is this? So, you know, as you learn the things, it really, you know, starts to click and make sense. You're like, okay, this is why this is happening in my home. This is why I don't want to do this. Or this is why I should do this. I was halfway done with remodeling my home. So I wish I knew back then, what I know now I probably would have done things a little different. 00:47:57 Carlos Ramos: What's the most rewarding aspect of your role at the center? 00:48:01 Jason Embick: There's a lot of rewarding aspects of this role at the center, but the most rewarding is the team that I get to work with. We always say, you know, different things we do, somebody will say, best team ever. And I can honestly say that I work with a truly amazing team, dedicated team. Everybody does their part and it takes every one of us for the amount of work that we have to do. And everybody plugging away to reach that goal. We work hard, we play hard. It is truly an amazing team. 00:48:37 Carlos Ramos: I'm glad to hear you're working for the second best team ever. 00:48:40 Sumer Beatty: I know, I was going to say, do you want to have a competition here? Because I think we could. I'm just kidding. 00:48:46 Jason Embick: Yep, it's on. 00:48:49 Carlos Ramos: So what's on the horizon for you? 00:48:51 Jason Embick: There's a lot of things on the horizon. We put a lot of things in place, you know, over the last couple of years with increased funding, trying different things, expanding into the CTCs. So opening the training center in Pittsburgh, you know. That's coming up. That'll expand our reach out there as well. In general, a lot of people don't know what weatherization is and that there's actual career paths out there and what impact. that career can have on their community. So, we have a, marketing and career awareness project that we're working on right now as well that's going to target to youth and young adults. This is going to help get that message out there and help expand that workforce. So, you know, getting that message out there, the things going on with the CTC. You know, pairing them up with apprenticeships. It's, it's, I would just say keep moving forward, you know, with everything we're doing and seeing that go to the next level. You know, a lot of this is in the infancy stage. So, CTC initiative, you know, the workforce readiness, we're going to see. What impact that has come graduation time this year because that'll be the first set of students have been through this. So we'll be able to adapt from there, you know, so I, I would say that's probably the next step, you know, if we need to make any modifications to anything and making sure that we're moving the needle in the right direction. 00:50:25 Sumer Beatty: Yeah. So we'll be watching for some press releases about everything that's coming up. Sounds like a lot of potential for growth. 00:50:33 Jason Embick: Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of moving parts in there right now. like I said, it's in the infancy, but you know, seeing things come to fruition, you know, that's very rewarding as well. 00:50:45 Sumer Beatty: And so then I think just to cap things off, how can somebody learn more about the center? 00:50:51 Jason Embick: Yeah, a good start would be going to our website, pct.edu/cec. The website is broken down into different program areas, and if somebody needs to get more information, there's also a link on the website where one can create a, it's called a support ticket, and that's going to help get to the appropriate team member, based on what question they're asking, and somebody will get back with them. 00:51:19 Sumer Beatty: Alright, well that's wonderful. I think people are probably going to have some questions after this, and specifically like, How can I make my building more efficient? How can I make my home more efficient? So, hopefully your phone's going to be ringing when you get back to the office. 00:51:33 Jason Embick: Yep, that's, that's great. 00:51:35 Carlos Ramos: Thank you, Jason. 00:51:36 Sumer Beatty: Thank you. 00:51:37 Jason Embick: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. 00:51:42 Sumer Beatty: Thanks for hanging out with us today. 00:51:44 Carlos Ramos: Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you'd listen to your podcasts. 00:51:48 Sumer Beatty: Check out our show notes for bookmarks to your favorite sections and links to resources that we mention in today's episode. 00:51:54 Carlos Ramos: You can also find past episodes and see what's on deck for upcoming ones at pct.edu/podcast. 00:52:01 Sumer Beatty: And of course, we are open to your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. So send those over. at podcast@pct.edu. 00:52:10 Jason Embick: It's been real. 00:52:11 Sumer Beatty: Catch you next time. 00:52:15 Jason Embick: Were we live then or no? 00:52:17 Sumer Beatty: I'm just kidding. Yeah, we told him we were alive. We were joking. We're not live.