new york state energy research & development authority (NYSERDA)

The New York State Energy Research Development Authority conceived the High Performance Residential Development Challenge as a program to provide builders with incentives and expertise in building higher energy efficient homes. The HPRDC has a benchmark of energy efficiency at 65% or better than homes built to the 2004 International Energy Conservation Code – far beyond what builders typically build today. Newport Ventures serves as a building consultant in the project, modeling builders’ reference homes and working with builders to redesign the plans for energy efficiency.

ECOHEALTH HOMES

Newport Ventures provides marketing and strategic support to Ecohealth Homes. This endeavour includes developing a vision and creating a web presence for the residential design & build company. Strategically reaching a target audience through their marketing materials and web site is a prime focus for Ecohealth Homes.

U.S. DOE BUILDING AMERICA

When the US Department of Energy went looking for a firm to facilitate their Building America quarterly all-teams meetings, they decided on Newport Ventures. Within this role, Newport Ventures assists Building America teams in strategizing, road mapping, and developing takeaways that provide program direction. 

NEW YORK STATE RESIDENTIAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION MONITORING

Ventures staff specializes in assessing buildings for the most cost-effective options to enhance energy performance and reduce environmental impacts. Hoping to reduce the carbon footprint of its facilities, a national builder/property manager worked with Newport Ventures to conduct a sustainability assessment of its operations in New York State. As a follow on to this work, Newport Ventures has been actively monitoring the electricity consumption of several of the property management company’s homes – collecting data on individual load usage to identify site-specific opportunities for energy savings. It’s no secret that New York’s residents are using more electricity per capita than ever, but Newport’s work in this area is helping to identify cost effective opportunities for reducing this demand. In this case, some of the lowest hanging fruit included amending maintenance schedules, optimizing energy efficient lighting, educating tenants, and enhancing controls.

ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY CODES ANALYSIS

The green building movement has reached critical mass and is bursting into the mainstream with the development of new codes and standards that seek to transform custom strategies into prescriptive instructions. As industry players adjust to this new market reality, Newport Ventures has assisted them in conducting detailed analyses and modeling of such codes and standards as LEED for Homes, LEED NC, IECC, NAHB GBS, ASHRAE 90.1, and ASHRAE 189. These analyses have helped clients identify both threats and opportunities in the emerging green building market environment.

PATH TECH TRANSFER

US HUD conceived the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) as a public private initiative to drive innovation in housing. PATH’s Tech Transfer project represents one of their prime efforts at accelerating the development and transfer of technologies into the home building industry. Newport Ventures has facilitated round table discussions between researchers and manufacturers todiscover barriers as well as best practices to market penetration. Industry guidebooks fortech transfer will result.

In supporting a residential micro combined heat and power (mCHP) developer through this contract, a New York State market study was conducted to identify opportunities for mCHP. One of the main indicators of mCHP viability, the difference between the cost of natural gas and electricity, or “spark spread” is shown in the adjacent graphic. The analysis revealed that New York State represents one of the most conducive markets in the nation for mCHP.

PATH CONCEPT HOME

PATH’s Concept Home has been featured in over 75 national and international publications, television & radio programs, and conference presentations for its novel and market-oriented solutions to building green, flexible, durable, material efficient and energy efficient homes. Though partnerships with Newport Partners and Building Media, Inc., Newport Ventures developed and implemented innovative marketing and public relations strategies for the demonstration phase of the award winning PATH Concept Home. Newport Ventures also represents the PATH Concept Home on the PATH Marketing Committee.

IT SYSTEMS FOR HOMEBUILDERS

Today’s successful builders are often more savvy with spreadsheets than nail guns, because IT systems can have a big influence on the profitability of building firms. Newport’s staff recently conducted an analysis of homebuilder’s use of IT systems, common challenges they face, and keys to success. As part of this work, our staff conducted a case study with a growing NY builder to better understand how IT has helped them along the way. The findings from this study have been distributed both to homebuilders and IT software developers, so that they can better understand how their software can improve to meet builder’s needs.

MARKET RESEARCH ON CRITICAL BUILDING ISSUES: BUILDINGSURVEY.ORG

Our market research staff regularly assists in the development and analysis of online surveys that provide industry insight. Recent market research topics have covered green building, IT systems for homebuilders, and homeowner’s views on innovative technologies. Findings from our market analyses are used to inform private and public sector clients of emerging trends in the housing industry.

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