Zonda - Resource Library

When planning and designing homes, architects should know that more than 12.6 million U.S. households rely on propane for their primary energy needs. Propane has many advantages such as offering heat for water, outdoor spaces, and inside the home. In addition, propane provides clean fuel for comforting fireplaces, cooking food, and drying clothing.

Propane can be stored above ground or in underground propane tanks, an option many builders are choosing in order to fuel homes off the natural gas mains. This course will cover important considerations when planning for propane use in residential construction.

This course will explore how propane-fueled hydronic heating technologies such as radiant hydronic and forced-air hydronic can improve the sustainability of buildings and the health and comfort of occupants.

We will examine how these technologies work, the advantages of each type, and how building owners can overcome space-heating challenges with hydronic heating systems. Finally, the course will explore several case studies where hydronic heating systems were used to save money, maximize energy efficiency, and improve thermal comfort.

Architecture is far from simple shelter. When thoughtfully and carefully designed, it can lift citizens and entire communities from their burdens, whether physical, mental, or economic. Community-led architecture is an evolution toward equitable, inclusive, and diverse design.

This course will explore some of the challenges underserved populations face and how community-led architecture can help create more sustainable, healthier, and happier communities. It will also examine how designers can incorporate propane into buildings for cooking, water, and space heating as an affordable, energy-efficient alternative to electric appliances for vulnerable communities worldwide.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. Water heating is a major energy end-use in commercial buildings, and is very significant in certain commercial building types. Many commercial building owners and operators have a critical need for water heating systems which are reliable, able to meet varying levels of demand, energy efficient, and able to fit within a building’s space constraints in order to maintain their business operations.

Propane tankless water heaters are a flexible and energy efficient technology which provides these attributes in many commercial applications. This course will explore how commercial buildings use energy and the potential application of propane tankless systems to provide a solution for water heating needs.

With homeowners spending more time at home and wanting to extend their living spaces into the outdoors in the new normal resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that the pool, hot tub, and spa industry is experiencing record sales, as well as demand for longer swim seasons. And commercial pools and related amenities aren’t far behind.

Learn how pool builders and designers can utilize propane heaters to support this trend.

Hot off a season of trade shows, including the International Builders' Show (IBS), manufacturers have debuted new products or improvements that make existing products cleaner and more energy-efficient—on the systems side of smart homes.

Hear more about five of these recent innovations. On the design side, see a fireplace with firebox that can have zero clearance to combustible materials. Then see the latest hydronic solutions efficiently delivering heat and hot water - as well as a powerful fuel cell that can work in concert with the grid.

Heating oil, also known as fuel oil or Number 2 oil, has been a popular choice for homeowners since the early 1900s. As an alternative to coal or wood as a fuel source for boilers and domestic hot water production, heating oil proved to be a reliable, clean, and economical choice for millions of consumers, especially in the Northeast where other fuel types were often more difficult to acquire or were more expensive.

But it is not an environmentally conscious fuel choice. Propane gas has the same remote fuel benefit, coupled with fewer emissions and higher efficiency equipment. This course details economic and environmental reasons why switching from heating oil to propane is a good choice for homeowners, residential builders or remodelers.

This course will discuss how architects and business owners can achieve outstanding performance and low-cost operation by incorporating high-efficiency, low-emission propane appliances into commercial new builds or retrofits.

We will discuss the challenges of designing commercial buildings in rural areas, especially those that do not have natural gas service, and how propane can help to meet resilience and sustainability goals, and maximize health, wellness, and occupant comfort. In addition, this course will explore applications for propane in different commercial building types, as well as case studies where propane was used.

This On Demand CEU is a recorded presentation from a previously live webinar event. When the local power grid goes down a commercial building built today might incorporate backup power to be more resilient, to mitigate against financial losses, to protect life safety, to provide vital services, or some combination of these goals. This course covers this important topic, exploring the motivations for using backup power, relevant code and standard requirements, and the fuel options for backup power generators.

Making good decisions about improving an existing home's energy efficiency and lowering its energy costs can be challenging for a consumer. Homeowners, builders, contractors, and weatherization agencies have a wide range of energy efficiency upgrades to choose from, each with different benefits and costs.

This course compares the popular upgrades and systems available to help you make the best choice for your projects and is intended to serve as a guide to answer questions about prioritizing energy efficiency investments for existing homes. By closely examining a study commissioned by the Propane Education and Resource Council, the “Analysis of Energy Efficiency Upgrades for Existing Homes,” this course will provide objective information about the most effective measures and/or equipment choices across five climate regions in the United States.