Harold Orr

Last updated
Harold Orr
OccupationMechanical engineer  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Employer
Works Saskatchewan Conservation House   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Awards
  • Member of the Order of Canada (2017)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Harold Walter Orr CM (born April 30, 1931) is a Canadian mechanical engineer known for his work on energy-efficient construction and air leakage in houses, in particular the prioritization of energy demand reduction over active systems through the use of superinsulation and airtightness in passive design. [1] Among Orr's major technical works are Design and construction of low energy houses in Saskatchewan (1982) and Energy efficient housing on the prairies (1982).

Contents

Orr worked with the Building Research Division of the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. [1] He focused on infiltration as a major component of heat loss. [1] His research on air leakage in houses led to the development of the blower door, a tool still used today for tightness testing in houses. [2] [3] [4] He also helped to develop the HotCan software, which continues to be used for whole house energy analysis and energy code compliance under the name HOT2000. [5] [6]

In response to the energy crisis of the 1970s, Orr proposed radical insulation and airtight construction techniques. He served as the lead engineer on the construction of the Saskatchewan Conservation House (SCH), the world's most airtight house at the time. The SCH influenced the development of energy efficiency building codes in Canada and internationally, and shaped the field of energy-efficient construction, including passive solar building design and the German Passive house. [3] [7] Orr's work has earned him many accolades, including a Pioneer Award at the International Passive House Conference in Leipzig, Germany in 2015, [3] and being named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017. [8]

Early life and education


Harold Walter Orr was born April 30, 1931 in Minton, Saskatchewan to Wilfred and Pearl Orr. [9] Harold Orr's lineage traces back to William Brewster, a Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower, eleven generations prior, and John Hayden Williams UEL, a United Empire Loyalist, six generations prior.[ citation needed ]

Harold Orr's parents were founding members of what later became Western Christian College (WCC). His father worked at various times as a carpenter, builder, preacher, principal, and teacher. His mother's positions included assistant principal, matron, and teacher. When Harold was less than a year old, his parents moved into a 'cook car' and converted their home in Minton into a summer bible school, the predecessor of the Western Christian College. [9]

That fall (1931), the Orrs moved to Radville in the Peace River District, hosting the next bible school in a meeting house. After living in British Columbia from 1936 to 1940, they returned to Radville. In 1940, they bought an 8-room house for $550 and donated it to the bible school. In 1944, they offered a site on their property on the east bank of the Souris River for the establishment of a new school site. In 1945, the school was named the Radville Christian College. [9] [10] Harold and his siblings, Lois Olson (Orr), Alice Williams (Orr), Raymond Orr, P.Eng., and Verna Bastian (Orr), [11] [12] completed their high school educations there. [10] Harold graduated in 1949. [13]

Following his father and grandfather, Orr became familiar with building sites from the age of 12 and trained as a carpenter. [14] After beginning to study mechanical engineering, he met and married Mary Ruth Lidbury in 1953. [15] He eventually became a father to eight children: Ruth, Nancy, Walter, May, John, Randy, Robert, and Glenda, two of whom are adopted; to 22 Grandchildren and 28 Great Grandchildren. Over the years, he and his wife have fostered four children.[ citation needed ]

After working as a carpenter and briefly studying architecture, Orr returned to Saskatoon, where he completed his Bachelor of Engineering in mechanical engineering (1959) and Master of Science (1962) at the University of Saskatchewan. [3] [16] [17] Orr was also the first president of the U of S Greystone Singers from 1958 to 1960, and designed its crest. [18]

Career

Orr's research career began with his Master's thesis, "Studies and Improvements to an Air Infiltration Instrument". As a master's student, Orr worked at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada to investigate air leakage in houses. After graduating, Orr was hired by the NRC to continue his work on the problem of calculating air leakage in houses. As a student, he developed a method to measure air leakage using helium as a tracer gas, later improving this method by switching to sulphur hexafluoride. [14] His work led to the development of the blower door in the late 1970s, an instrument still used for tightness testing in houses. [19] [3] [17]

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Orr served on a committee convened by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to design a passive solar house. [20] [21] As part of this committee, Orr applied his carpentry background and his knowledge of heat loss to suggest a radical increase in insulation and the use of airtight construction techniques. This project resulted in the Saskatchewan Conservation House (1977), which was the most airtight house in the world at the time. [22] The Saskatchewan Conservation House (SCH) project faced challenges, including the inclusion of a government-mandated solar hot water system that proved to be expensive and inefficient. The solar component was removed after the house was sold to a private owner, after being used for two years as a model show house. [23] Nonetheless, its conservation measures, such as insulation, airtightness, and its heat-recovery ventilation system, were highly effective. [24] [25] On a blower door test, a standardized measure of how rapidly air leaks out of a house at a pressure of 50 pascals (pa), most new Canadian houses of the time scored around 9 "air changes per hour" or ach @ 50 pa. The Saskatchewan Conservation House achieved measures of 0.5 [26] ach@50pa. [2] The Saskatchewan Conservation House became a model for low-energy house design, [24] [25] receiving as many as 1,000 visitors a week in 1978. [27]

The elements used in the project paved the way for the development of the Natural Resources Canada R2000 program. They led to the establishment of new national energy conservation protocols, the Energuide Energy efficiency building codes, for use in Canadian buildings. [28] [29] Fourteen similar houses were constructed in Saskatoon in 1981, [30] using principles from the SCH. [28] The Saskatchewan Conservation House also became a model for the international Passive House (Passivhaus) building energy efficiency standard. [31] The passive house approach became influential in Germany and Europe. [23] In Saskatchewan, the first house to apply for official certification as a passive house was the Temperance Street Passive House, in 2016. It uses many of the principles Orr introduced in 1977. [32] [33]

In 1982, Orr and Dumont explored the potential for doing a deep-energy retrofit on an existing building. They applied ideas from the Saskatchewan Conservation House in the first "chainsaw retrofit". [34] [35] In preparation for creating a new building envelope for the house, the existing eaves and overhangs were removed at the roofline to simplify its surface. The entire house was then wrapped in a continuous polyethylene air-vapor barrier. The result was framed out and 8 inches of fiberglass insulation was added before a new facade was constructed. Blower tests of the house's air leakage showed a reduction of 90.1%, improving scores from 2.95 ach at 50 pa to 0.29 ach at 50 pa. [34]

Orr also worked with Robert Dumont to develop the energy analysis program HotCan, which continues to be used as of 2018 under the name HOT2000. [26] It is considered "a key component of Canada's home energy rating, labelling, incentive programs, and code compliance" for whole house energy analysis. [5]

Orr retired from the NRC in 1986 after 25 years of service. From 1989 to 1992, Orr was a charter Engineering faculty member at Oklahoma Christian University. In 2017, Orr received both a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Saskatchewan Energy Management Task Force [3] and the Order of Canada for his significant contributions to energy efficiency in Canadian homes. [36] [8] He was lauded for his ability to communicate technical issues to a broad audience throughout his career. [3]

Awards and recognition

Orr has received recognition for his contributions to energy-efficient construction and for his work in the community.

Selected publications

Orr has contributed to the field of energy-efficient construction through numerous technical publications, including:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passive solar building design</span> Architectural engineering that uses the Suns heat without electric or mechanical systems

In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermal insulation</span> Minimization of heat transfer

Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with specially engineered methods or processes, as well as with suitable object shapes and materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Research Council Canada</span> Primary national research and technology organization of the Government of Canada

The National Research Council Canada is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy conservation</span> Reducing energy consumption

Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively or changing one's behavior to use less service. Energy conservation can be achieved through efficient energy use, which has some advantages, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a smaller carbon footprint, as well as cost, water, and energy savings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blower door</span>

A blower door is a machine used to perform a building air leakage test. It can also be used to measure airflow between building zones, to test ductwork airtightness and to help physically locate air leakage sites in the building envelope.

The National Building Code of Canada is the model building code of Canada. It is issued by the National Research Council of Canada. As a model code, it has no legal status until it is adopted by a jurisdiction that regulates construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-energy house</span> House designed for reduced energy use

A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident's lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC—Bâtiment Basse Consommation—Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passive house</span> Type of house

Passive house is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building's ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P, is used in Switzerland. The standard is not confined to residential properties; several office buildings, schools, kindergartens and a supermarket have also been constructed to the standard. The design is not an attachment or supplement to architectural design, but a design process that integrates with architectural design. Although it is generally applied to new buildings, it has also been used for refurbishments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superinsulation</span> Method of insulating a building

Superinsulation is an approach to building design, construction, and retrofitting that dramatically reduces heat loss by using much higher insulation levels and airtightness than average. Superinsulation is one of the ancestors of the passive house approach.

A building envelope or building enclosure is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building, including the resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer.

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is a provincial treasury board crown corporation engaged in research and technology development on behalf of the provincial government and private industry. It focuses on applied research and development projects that generate profit. Some of its funding comes from government grants, but it generates the balance from selling products and services. With nearly 300 employees and $137 million in annual revenues, SRC is the second largest research and technology organization in Canada.

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is an Australian scheme to measure the energy efficiency of a residential dwelling. An accredited software tool assesses the home based on a variety of criteria and produces an energy star rating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zero-energy building</span> Energy efficiency standard for buildings

A Zero-Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero-Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site or in other definitions by renewable energy sources offsite, using technology such as heat pumps, high efficiency windows and insulation, and solar panels.

Domestic housing in the United Kingdom presents a possible opportunity for achieving the 20% overall cut in UK greenhouse gas emissions targeted by the Government for 2010. However, the process of achieving that drop is proving problematic given the very wide range of age and condition of the UK housing stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennyland project</span> Low Energy Building Experiment

The Pennyland project was one of a series of low-energy building experiments sparked by the 1973 oil crisis. It involved the construction of an estate of 177 houses in the Pennyland area of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. It compared possible future UK building efficiency standards with newly introduced Danish ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainscreen</span>

A rainscreen is an exterior wall detail where the siding stands off from the moisture-resistant surface of an air/water barrier applied to the sheathing to create a capillary break and to allow drainage and evaporation. The rainscreen is the cladding or siding itself but the term rainscreen implies a system of building. Ideally the rainscreen prevents the wall air/water barrier from getting wet but because of cladding attachments and penetrations water is likely to reach this point, and hence materials are selected to be moisture tolerant and integrated with flashing. In some cases a rainscreen wall is called a pressure-equalized rainscreen wall where the ventilation openings are large enough for the air pressure to nearly equalize on both sides of the rain screen, but this name has been criticized as being redundant and is only useful to scientists and engineers.

Sustainable refurbishment describes working on existing buildings to improve their environmental performance using sustainable methods and materials. A refurbishment or retrofit is defined as: "any work to a building over and above maintenance to change its capacity, function or performance' in other words, any intervention to adjust, reuse, or upgrade a building to suit new conditions or requirements". Refurbishment can be done to a part of a building, an entire building, or a campus. Sustainable refurbishment takes this a step further to modify the existing building to perform better in terms of its environmental impact and its occupants' environment.

Building airtightness can be defined as the resistance to inward or outward air leakage through unintentional leakage points or areas in the building envelope. This air leakage is driven by differential pressures across the building envelope due to the combined effects of stack, external wind and mechanical ventilation systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TightVent Europe</span>

TightVent Europe is a platform focused on building and ductwork airtightness issues. The platform's creation was triggered to meet the 2020 targets of the Directive on the energy performance of buildings and overcome the challenges related to envelope and ductwork leakage towards the generalization of nearly zero-energy buildings. The platform's main activities include producing and disseminating policy-oriented publications, networking among local or national airtightness associations, and organizing conferences, workshops and webinars.

The Saskatchewan Conservation House is an early exemplar of energy-efficient building construction that introduced best practices for addressing air leakage in houses. It was designed in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s at the request of the Government of Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Conservation House pioneered the use of superinsulation and airtightness in passive design and included one of the earliest heat recovery systems. The house did not require a furnace, despite prairie winter temperatures as low as −24 °C (−11 °F) at night.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ruby, Daniel (October 1981). "From the far north: lessons on how to slash fuel bills". Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. pp. 106–108.
  2. 1 2 Paulsen, Monte (2012). "Just Build It". Canadian Geographic. 132 (3).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Rob Dumont Energy Management Awards". Saskatchewan Energy Management Task Forces. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  4. ↑ Dodge, David; Thompson, Dylan (May 6, 2016). "The first certified passive house in Saskatchewan". Pembina Institute. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 Parekh, Anil; Charron, Remi; Poirier, Simon; Roux, Louise (2018). "Testing of HOT2000 version 11 in Accordance with ASHRAE Standard 140-2014". Proceedings of eSim 2018, the 10th conference of IBPSA-Canada Montréal, QC, Canada, May 9-10, 2018 (PDF). IBPSA Canada. pp. 251–258. ISBN   9782921145886.
  6. ↑ Riley, M. (June 1986). Ventilation and air quality monitoring in R-2000 homes: measurement and analysis (PDF). The R-2000 Home Progam.
  7. ↑ Three Decades of Innovation in Housing Technology: 1966-1996 (PDF). Government of Canada. 1999. pp. 68–74.
  8. 1 2 3 General, Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "Mr. Harold Walter Orr". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  9. 1 2 3 Torkelson, Lillian M. (1946). "Part One: A Vision Splendid, Chapter I: Radville Summer School". Western Christian College Background and Historical Perspective 1931 to 1995. The Gospel Herald. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  10. 1 2 Torkelson, Lillian M. (1989). "Part 3: Western Christian College History, Diary Update 1969 - 1989". Western Christian College Background and Historical Perspective 1931 to 1995.
  11. ↑ Williams, Ralph (January 2005). "Obituaries Orr, Pearl Catherine" (PDF). Gospel Herald. Vol. 70, no. 1. p. 16. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "Remembering the life of Pearl Orr". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  13. ↑ "Graduates - History of WCC". The Old Paths Archive.
  14. 1 2 Cowell, Lucy (2015-08-19). "HPH095 : The Saskatchewan Conservation House - with Harold Orr". House Planning Help. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  15. 1 2 Harold and Mary Orr Recognized at Saskatchewan Legislature , retrieved 2023-10-27
  16. ↑ "University of Saskatchewan graduates listed". The Leader-Post. 8 May 1959. p. 28.
  17. 1 2 Fitzpatrick, Kathy (Oct 17, 2019). "All in on insulation". Green and White - Alumni and Friends. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  18. ↑ Florence, Bob (March 2, 2009). "Greystone alumni sing songs of praise". The Star Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  19. ↑ Code, BC Energy Step (2018-12-03). "Some B.C. Builders are Reaching Step Code Specs Without Even Trying". Medium. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  20. ↑ Holladay, Martin (September 22, 2010). "THE HISTORY OF SUPER INSULATION IN NORTH AMERICA 2010 BCBEC Conference & AGM Innovative Solutions - Building Tomorrow". BCBEC. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  21. ↑ "Passive house and Passivhaus - where it started". www.ecohome.net. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  22. ↑ Moonen, Peter; Hunter, Lydia (2016-07-12). "Active Thoughts on Passive Design: Designing with wood for next-level green projects". Construction Canada. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  23. 1 2 Huck, Nichole (Aug 5, 2015). "'Passive home' movement a success in Germany, but not in Saskatchewan where it started Canada slow to adopt green building technology first used in Saskatchewan in 1977". CBC News. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  24. 1 2 Shurcliff, William A. (November 1986). "Superinsulated Houses". Annual Review of Energy. 11 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1146/annurev.eg.11.110186.000245.
  25. 1 2 Holladay, Martin (17 April 2009). "Forgotten Pioneers of Energy Efficiency". GreenBuildingAdvisor.
  26. 1 2 Hough, Joseph (February 16, 2018). "Towards the Passive House: A short history of energy-efficient housing in Canada (Part 2 of 5)". Canadian Contractor. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  27. ↑ Besant, Robert W.; Dumont, Robert S.; Schoenau, Greg (1 April 1979). "The Saskatchewan conservation house: Some preliminary performance results". Energy and Buildings. 2 (2): 163–174. doi:10.1016/0378-7788(79)90031-8. ISSN   0378-7788.
  28. 1 2 Hough, Joseph (2018). "Passive house pioneer to receive Order of Canada". Canadian Contractor. No. March April. p. 26. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  29. ↑ Downing, Andrew (April 17, 2018). "A closer look at the Saskatchewan Conservation House and four others". Saskatchewan Research Council. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  30. ↑ JOHNSON, BRYAN (Nov 25, 1981). "Slick gadgets can cost more than they save". The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont. p. 7. ISSN   0319-0714 . Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  31. ↑ Publisher1953 (2015-04-14). "Passive House Pioneer Award recognizes 1970s energy-efficient Canadian house | Canadian Design and Construction Report" . Retrieved 2023-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ Dodge, David (14 March 2016). "139. The first certified passive house in Saskatchewan". Green Energy Futures. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  33. ↑ McAdam, Bre (Nov 14, 2016). "Not your typical build: A glimpse into the Temperance Street Passive House in Saskatoon". Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  34. 1 2 Alter, Lloyd (February 3, 2021). "Harold Orr and the 80% Rule". Treehugger. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  35. ↑ Gibson, Scott (5 June 2015). "Building Science Pioneer Dies". GreenBuildingAdvisor. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  36. 1 2 "Saskatoon engineer who helped improve energy efficiency in homes named to the Order of Canada". CBC News. January 31, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  37. ↑ "Alumnus of the Year - History of WCC". www.oldpaths.com. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  38. ↑ "Breakfast Sessions Tuesday Oct 16th Harold Orr C.M. P. Eng.(retired)" (PDF). High Performance Home Summit, 2018. 2018.
  39. ↑ "APEGS". www.apegs.ca. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  40. ↑ Langlois, Lucie (10 October 2013). "L'événement Passive House North". La Maison du 21e siècle - Le Magazine de la Maison Saine (in French). Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  41. ↑ Buckstein, M. (2013-10-16). "Sustainable development experts awarded". Construction Canada. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  42. ↑ "Harold Orr, Pioneer". Canadian Consulting Engineer. 56 (3): 46. May 2015.
  43. ↑ "The Pioneer Award [Passipedia EN]". passipedia.org. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  44. ↑ GoEEBA (2018-10-16), 2018-10-16-052-rlm , retrieved 2023-10-10
  45. ↑ "Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Saskatchewan) | Heritage, Honours and Awards". Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  46. ↑ "Passive House Canada Recognize Three with Harold Orr Awards – Passive House Canada | Maison Passive Canada". www.passivehousecanada.com. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.