Zonda - Resource Library

Water heaters are the second-largest energy user in the home, costing residents hundreds of dollars each year. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy updated the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) standards, which increased water heater efficiency requirements and drove major product changes in the U.S. market. NAECA standards include federal regulations for water heater minimum efficiency levels. Against this backdrop of updated standards, products, and decision-making factors, this course will review a detailed analysis of water-heating systems.

This analysis compares water-heating technologies based on their energy, economic, and environmental performance, with a focus on the performance of propane-based systems relative to electric and heating oil alternatives. The course also reviews the federal standards for water heaters and describes the market implications for both new construction and replacements.

Energy codes are constantly changing across the country, hear architecture and building pros discuss their experiences specifying dual-fuel systems, including reliability and energy-efficiency.

Learn more about these solutions that include propane within the context of other energy sources, plus how to address code compliance.

With energy prices skyrocketing and homeowners being more sustainably conscious, it is important to design for optimal efficiency. These trends will help you make easy additions with big impact.

From optimizing the sun through solar tempering to making the right heating and cooling system decisions, this paper details the energy efficiency solutions homeowners are looking for.

Ensuring facilities have a backup power source for resilience and redundancy is gaining traction as a goal by organizations everywhere.

In this Studio Session with ARCHITECT's Editor-in-Chief watch to learn how the energy and engineering team behind an Army National Guard project specified micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) systems to cut energy costs and carbon emissions while improving resilience.

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.

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.

The growing interest in hearth culture has given rise to a wider array of room applications, even multiple hearths throughout a home. However, there was a time when gas fireplace requirements limited floorplan creativity. The good news is, many of those constraints—notably venting—have largely been mitigated by advances in hearth science.

These layout expansion strategies allow designers to think even more broadly about gas fireplace placement. As this paper shows, some may be unexpected. This report explores five notable floorplan hacks. Each has been vetted across thousands of residential and commercial applications and independent testing labs.

A look at the recent advances and design trends of gas fireplaces - which offer flexibility in design that makes them ideal for many floor plans and aesthetics.

Technological advances have made them safer and more energy-efficient than they already were. Get inspired and learn about the latest advances in gas fireplace technology.

You would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy gazing into a warm fire, but many people hesitate to incorporate fireplaces into their homes, fearing high upkeep or space constraints. However, there has been tremendous innovation in the hearth industry over the past few years in venting and heat-management technologies, as well as more modern aesthetics and smart, connected fireplaces. This course will discuss 10 hearth innovations that architects should be aware of when helping clients decide which fireplace type, style, and features best suit their needs.