Contact Scott Hansen American Indian Weatherization Coordinator ~ 866.744.9300 ~

Global Warming or Global Warning

Global Warming: Is this the end.
Recently, I have been involved in Energy Forums where so-called experts are stating as a fact; it’s too late. We have pumped so much additional carbon dioxide into our atmosphere that our temperatures will soar beyond our ability to survive. We have all heard the doomsayers before and the human race still races along. Struggling to get by.
First, they are wrong and Sweden is proving them wrong by rolling its carbon dioxide levels back to pre 1980 levels. Imagine this was done it a few years and without much sacrifice. I believe the human race responds correctly to any clear concise crisis. Currently, our scientific community is clear on the crisis however there are other players that confuse the issue with conflicting statements. Who are we to believe and what solutions should we take? It’s hard for us in the real world, facing the daily challenge of caring for our family to discern what the real dangers are? Still we know it’s getting hotter out there but what exactly should we do?
First, we should look at our energy footprint and ask is it a soft impact on the environment or a harsh one. Consider the Roman Coliseums built over two thousands years ago still standing today. Then compare our Tribes’ history and its soft impact on nature. In Rome’s glory the coliseums served a purpose but what is its use today. This is the legacy we need to debate as we head to the end of times, that I hope is a long time off.
What can we do today to save tomorrow? Conserve what we use and strive for better ways to use our fossil fuels. There are solutions and one of them should be to stop burning the rain forest and start replanting CO2 consuming forests that will act as carbon sinks for the next 500 years. Al Gore’s Movie “The Inconvenient Truth” states that rain forest burning contributes 30% of the Carbon Dioxide Problem in Global Warming. Let’s reverse that to where new growing rain forests consume an additional 30% of CO2. Now you have to ask yourself would you rather pay a few pennies at the pump for new rain forests and better forest management that will reduce local forest fires. It’s up to you.
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Challenge: Think of two ways this next month you can reduce your carbon dioxide volume.

Sat Apr 28, 2007
Global Warming: Is this the end.

Recently, I have been involved in Energy Forums where so-called experts are stating as a fact; it’s too late. We have pumped so much additional carbon dioxide into our atmosphere that our temperatures will soar beyond our ability to survive. We have all heard the doomsayers before and the human race still races along. Struggling to get by.

First, they are wrong and Sweden is proving them wrong by rolling its carbon dioxide levels back to pre 1980 levels. Imagine this was done it a few years and without much sacrifice. I believe the human race responds correctly to any clear concise crisis. Currently, our scientific community is clear on the crisis however there are other players that confuse the issue with conflicting statements. Who are we to believe and what solutions should we take? It’s hard for us in the real world, facing the daily challenge of caring for our family to discern what the real dangers are? Still we know it’s getting hotter out there but what exactly should we do?

First, we should look at our energy footprint and ask is it a soft impact on the environment or a harsh one. Consider the Roman Coliseums built over two thousands years ago still standing today. Then compare our Tribes’ history and its soft impact on nature. In Rome’s glory the coliseums served a purpose but what is its use today. This is the legacy we need to debate as we head to the end of times, that I hope is a long time off.

What can we do today to save tomorrow? Conserve what we use and strive for better ways to use our fossil fuels. There are solutions and one of them should be to stop burning the rain forest and start replanting CO2 consuming forests that will act as carbon sinks for the next 500 years. Al Gore’s Movie “The Inconvenient Truth” states that rain forest burning contributes 30% of the Carbon Dioxide Problem in Global Warming. Let’s reverse that to where new growing rain forests consume an additional 30% of CO2. Now you have to ask yourself would you rather pay a few pennies at the pump for new rain forests and better forest management that will reduce local forest fires. It’s up to you.
Posted by: scott on Apr 28, 07 | 10:32 pm | Profile

Mold Crisis Remedies

by Scott Hansen

There are remedies for ridding mold in Tribal Homes. They range from simple and low cost to extensive and expensive. For a better understanding let’s review some basics.

Any mold infestation in a home is a bad thing even if it is harmless to humans since all molds cause decay of the home’s organic materials and could provide a breeding ground for other fungi and bacteria. Education and awareness are the best tools in fighting fungi.

I just attended the HUD-ONAP Mold and Moisture Training in Seattle, where the curriculum was Preventing Mold and Maintaining Healthy Tribal Homes. It was a good training similar to others I have attended. Kate Brown and Phil Knight did a good job of informing us the conditions and dangers of mold. The conference manual is put together well and will be a reference resource in my library. Please contact Tom Carney, HUD Seattle Office for a manual and future trainings. Turnout was moderate. Would“internet” mold remedy training, help?

The haunting question I have is what training can be done here in the Pacific Northwest to prepare caseworkers, maintenance workers and others who visit, inspect and/or repair Tribal Homes on how to properly investigate fungi infestations and implement a remedy.

This white paper report includes two housing scenarios ranging from low level infestations (internal influences) to extreme mold conditions (external influences) and what we did to remedy the infestation. We need to provide remedies for Mold, Mildew and Moisture that will ensure the healthy Tribal Homes. Let’s review some mold environment science.
Mold grows where moisture condenses on organic materials outdoors and indoors.
Got high moisture in the home? Then you probably got mold, too. Let’s review some basics.

· Temperatures above 60 degrees
· Moisture above 60 percent (daytime %)
· Organic Materials; Dry Wall, Fabrics, Wood and other materials

All homes have warming and cooling cycles and moisture that can condense on cool surfaces. Additional moisture is added to our home’s environment through intentional uses like showers and unintentional means such as outside air infiltration or a leak. This can create an environment favorable to fungi growth. We do try to remove warmed air laden with moisture (water vapor) through exhaust fans and other means. However, if condensation occurs on organic materials, you can have mold in 48 hours. This mold then can spew spores throughout the air.

First, as a mold infestation investigator we hold these truths to be self evident.
· All molds prose a danger to structures and some can prose a health danger.
· Reducing the moisture levels will reduce the fungi infestation.
· Understanding the dynamic nature of fungi growth is essential.

Next we need to learn to use our sight, smell and sense of touch in our investigation of fungi infestation. When investigating a home we should be looking for visual evidence (spots, growths and discolorations) also is there a musty smell and finally if you see a discoloration or mold does the area feels cool and damp to the touch? What is the approximate fungi footprint?
Here are some simple low cost tools that I use in my mold remediation.

· Wall Plate Thermometer/Hygrometer (client education)
· A 24 hour Min/Max Thermometer/Hygrometer
· An Infrared Temperature Reader (for hard to reach temp readings)
· A moisture probe (Hygrometer)

Now let’s take you to two homes where we investigated mold and implemented remedies to resolve the mold infestations. Remember safety first, so please be careful out there.
Yes, mold can be washed off hard surfaces like windowsills with simple non-toxic cleaners.

The first home for our mold remedy case study is located in Springfield, Oregon where we have mild winters with outdoor humidity ranging from a low of 60% to 100%.

This home is a two-story structure where the attic is a converted living area. It is a medium sized home with gas heat with moderate insulation and windows that were done in the 80s.

Mold first appeared in this home up high on the walls and some areas of the ceilings. During the warmer weather these spots would fade thus creating a wait for the warm weather remedy for the inhabitants. Finally, they called the Tribe and we went out to investigate the mold condition. Here are some of our findings.

· High Moisture Readings
· Wide range of temperature changes within the dwelling
· Low volume bathroom exhaust fan (less than 25 CFM)
· Challenging structure for weatherization retrofit
· Damp Crawl Space Condition

The home’s structure restricted some of our options like weatherizing and envelope tightening to reduce the crawl space’s damp air from entering the home’s living space. Our Tribes Housing Director Laurie Voshell introduced me to Rich Prill of WSU ext services, which under an EPA grant offered a ventilator (multi-port exhaust system) alternative to our problem.

Our conclusion was the home had high moisture levels that the bathroom exhaust fan was unable to adequately remove. Also just removing more air that would be replaced by damp crawl space air was not a good solution. So here is our remedy we designed.

· Increase the exhaust air
· Decease the draw from the crawl space

This required tightening the homes exterior (where we could) and other actions to reduce the crawl spaces moisture condition such as simple trenching and foundation improvements. These simple low cost actions reduced the unintentional air intake for the home and the installation of an intentional air vent (inlet) that was located at the homes driest location.

Enter the “Ventilator”. We installed this multi-port venting device that drew air out of the bathroom continuously (very low speed) that increased when the bathroom light was turned on. Additionally the ventilator drew air from two other sources; a bedroom and laundry room to remove moisture at those sources. This is an example of a whole house ventilation system. This simple fix was relatively inexpensive that I estimate should be under $500 depending on which ventilator you buy (3 to 7 ports). Now more moist air was exhausted form the house and dryer outside air was replacing it. The ventilator was quieter, too. No more, foggy bathroom mirror.

Did this remedy work? Yes it did. The mold never returned. If your funding is very limited look into the higher Cubic Feet per Minute bathroom fans and ensure the vent hosing is as straight as possible. That was several years ago and the ventilator continues to be the right fix.
Today we have more options than ever to exhaust indoor air, measure the humidity levels and educate the client. Here are some ways to increase the exhaust CFM volume.

· Cleaning the exhaust fan
· Proper venting of the exhaust fan to outside
· Increase venting hose diameter
· Install 100 or higher CFM fans
· Install a multi-port exhaust system (Whole house ventilation)

Safety Note: Use caution when increasing the CFM volume rate especially in homes where back drafting of CO (or CO2) could poison the client. Please refer to ASHRAE Manuals for minimum air quality and venting standards on this matter, http://www.ashrae.org/ Don’t Kill the Client!

This story is at the extreme range of fungi infestation. This project included two four-plex units located in a coastal region where mold had infested all the lower units severely and even with adequate bathroom exhaust fans (50+cfm) the mold infestation was extreme. However during the summer months the residents noted absence of fungi. Upon our inspection of the units we discovered the culprit. It was the crawl space, during the rainy season a pond would appear in the crawl space. This 100% moisture was rotting out the under flooring of the units. The rot was so serve some of the 6X8 support beams had to be replaced. There were other factors that compounded the crawl space’s water problem.

· Foundation Vents that were close to ground level
· Underground water flow from a nearby winter pond
· Multi-residents contributing to indoor moisture

This required a more detailed solution of indoor and outdoor actions to resolve the indoor moisture including an engineered water barrier outside the foundation to stop the water flowing under the unit. However that would be a summer project and this was the rainy season. We needed a working remedy that would improve the indoor air quality until dryer weather.

Enter Ron Haynes from Community Services of Corvallis who designed a whole house ventilation system that not only properly exchanged more indoor air with outdoor air but also created a negative pressure in the crawl space. Energy Conservation demands a balancing act of saving energy and improving indoor air quality. The indoor air moisture was high on these units and the more we ran the bathroom fans the higher the moisture level got, regardless if the unit had residents in them or not. Here’s what we learned as the bathroom fans, kitchen exhaust fan and clothes dryers ran exhausted the indoor air. These exhaust actions created a lower pressure zone than that of the crawl space. This indoor depressurization caused crawl space air to rush up into the above living space. Since every Cubic Foot of air per Minute exhausted requires a CFM to replace it. Unfortunately for these residents the flooring offered the least resistance to the outside air and the crawl space offered the wettest air. We needed to stop the wet crawl space air from creating a mold environment; especially in living space directly above it.

Therefore we needed to resolve the crawl space air pressure to less than that of the interior air pressure. Remember higher pressure goes to lower pressure. This was accomplished by sealing up the foundation and depressurizing the crawl space by pumping the crawl space air directly outside. Then the whole house ventilation system could adequately remove some indoor air that would be replaced with a dryer outside air through an intentional vent (inlet).

Did this remedy the mold crisis? Yes it did, at least in the living space. However, here we still have a damp crawl space that is rotting away the supports and under flooring. In fact, we can’t insulate the under flooring until the crawl space moisture problem is resolved. So this is really only a partial fix that requires some outside ground water source corrections.

For more information please contact Scott Hansen at shansen@ctclusi.org or call toll free to 1-866-744-9300 to learn more about the Native American Weatherization Program. This has been possible through a cooperative effort of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians and the Bonneville Power Administration.

Remember Safety first, if you fear the home has potentially dangerous molds, meet the residents off site and then suit up or hire a local mold inspector before entering a home. This can be signified by unexplained illnesses in the home and/or increased asthma attacks. Be Careful!
Posted by: scott on Mar 22, 07 | 4:25 am | Profile

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