Recent Writing, Editing, and Technical Review

In 2014, Saturn rewrote a 300-page home-building manual, Northern Comfort, with over 150 color illustrations for Alaska Craftsman Home Program (ACHP), the designated training organization of the Alaska legislature for contractors and building-trades persons on Alaska’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards (BEES). Part of this project included aligning Northern Comfort to the relevant parts of the 2012 International Residential Code (IRC).

In 2015, Saturn converted the RESNET standards into a responsive-web-design in HTML for their website. The template we used is optimized for screens from large computer screens down to smart phones. This allows raters to access the RESNET standards, while doing an energy rating.

Saturn is currently assembling Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) manual from audio files of the CPHC Webinar under contract with PHIUS (Passive House Institute US). We‘re converting speech to text, then editing and laying out the text.

Saturn assisted the DOE in aligning their Standard Work Specifications for Home Energy Upgrades (SWS) with the 2012 IRC and the IECC from 2012 through 2015.

In 2014 Saturn published a 500-page illustrated field guide, customizing it to the local codes and weatherization best practices of 17 States. Saturn provides these customized field guides to State weatherization programs in three formats: Adobe PDF, an HTML 5 web-help document, and a printed document. The electronic documents are linked (hypertext) to the SWS website, housed as an internet database at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). The links help DOE monitors verify that the State’s weatherization field guide complies with the SWS, which is a DOE funding requirement. The links also allow the State’s managers and monitors to compare their field guide with the federal SWS standards.

In 2013 Saturn published weatherization standards and an illustrated weatherization field guide for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) weatherization program. BPA’s weatherization program serves the 134 municipal utilities and rural electric co-ops in the Northwest where the BPA supplies electricity. Part of this project included aligning the new standards, field guide, and online lessons with the 2012 IRC and 2012 IECC.

Writing by Committee

We have the special talent for writing by committee. We can work with a committee to garner technical review. Since committee members don’t always agree on everything, we  resolve controversy and clarify ambiguity. We can provide references to support our success in converting “group-think” into readable and useful documents.

Writing for Research Institutes

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

We produced and illustrated consumer fact sheets for the DOE’s Energy-Efficiency and Renewable-Energy Clearinghouse. Topics include: active and passive solar heating, heat-pump operation and maintenance, home-moisture problems, window treatments, natural-gas heating efficiency, and mechanical ventilation.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

We wrote and illustrated a technical manual on hydronic heating for residential and light commercial buildings, entitledHydronic Heating: A Practical Overview. Also wrote and illustrated Energy-Efficient Ducts: A Practical Overview.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

We beta tested the National Energy Audit (NEAT) computer software and wrote illustrated software manual for NEAT in 2001.

Writing and Research for Utility Organizations

We’ve written articles and short publications for: the Energy Ideas Clearinghouse, the Western Area Power Administration, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Consortium for Energy Efficiency

For the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), John Krigger wrote monthly columns for utility-customer magazines throughout the U.S. on topics of residential energy efficiency. He also wrote a series of articles on energy-efficiency for commercial buildings for NRECA utility newsletters and websites.

We wrote, illustrated, and published Specification of Energy Efficient Installation and Maintenance Practices for Residential HVAC Systems for the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, a utility consortium in the Northeast US.