Decent Energy, Inc., is pleased to participate in Project Living Proof, http://www.kcenergy.org/projectlivingproof.aspx Project Living Proof is a unique demonstration located at 917 Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64110. Our involvement includes both energy efficiency work and renewable energy systems.

Project Living Proof was developed by the Metropolitan Energy Center with support from KCPL, MGE and many others.  Decent Energy, Inc.'s involvement includes energy modeling, solar air heat, and solar hot water solutions. From our perspective Project Living Proof serves several unique roles in our community as a teaching tool.

Among these is providing a publically accssible example of the many options to approaching energy improvements to a residence.  While there are a some good examples of public buildings that have energy efficient features, most of these are commercial buildings.  In contrast, most of the homes that have undergone extensive energy improvements are private residences, and are not designed as a forum for teaching.

Another important aspect of Project Living Proof is demonstrating the breadth of options available to homeowners.  By way of example, while it is increasingly common to think about getting a solar electric system, fewer people consider solar thermal alternatives. It is also less common to do monitoring and verification of a system's performance, and much less so in the context of an energy model.

Finally, Project Living Proof is notable in the combination of both energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements.  The energy efficiency improvements serve as an effective foundation for the renewable energy systems.  Put another way, without the energy efficiency work first, the same renewable systems would produce a much smaller fraction of Project Living Proof's overall consumption.  Sizing systems to cover use which had not been reduced would have added significantly to the cost of each f these systems.

Good company to be working in!  Partnering on Project Living Proof was a great experience.

The rear (South) of Project Living Proof, while under active construction.  The scaffolding that supported our work in installing the solar air heat collectors seen here has just come down.  In order to assess the feasibility of the site for solar air heating, we took readings of the overall solar window starting with the worst spot- the lower right corner of the collector near the sun porch where some shading is visible. Nonetheless, there is still enough of a solar window to drive significant heat production.