Building Performance Training Lab on Wheels

David Brown, VP of the Energy Conservation Institute, recently drove up from Ventura, Calif., towing a 3-ton building performance lab.  I met with David (middle in photo), another ECI trainer, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab staff scientist Iain Walker (right in photo) while David was in Northern Calif. to meet with utility, State Assembly members and building educators. 

David had the lab made for ECI and other building performance trainers who want to supplement their classroom learning environments with hands-on training.  The lab carries propane tanks, blower door, hot water tank, oven range, and four different furnaces (wall-mount, fan-assisted, sealed combustion, atmospherically vented), with single and dual CAZ (combustion appliance zones), each with ventilation and leakage controls.  Rather than taking a class of students out for a field trip, trainers can replicate many different scenarios and problems with the lab in their school parking lot, and it comes with a wide variety of testing and thermal imaging tools.   

Home Energy published an article on BP training facilities in our July/Aug 2010 training focus issue, and we'll be doing a feature on rolling labs soon!