The Passive House Institute of the US (PHIUS) had a real presence at the RESNET conference this week. I felt it even before I got on the plane to Austin last Saturday, as I met John Semmelhack of Think Little…
A few months back, I received the following email about payment to design the HVAC system for a new ENERGY STAR home. The author of the email is a home energy rater, and my client. The “HVAC guy” is the…
Because of this blog, I've sharpened my powers of observation by several orders of magnitude. I thought I was a pretty good observer before, with my background in physics, but writing as much as I have these past two years…
Ten years ago, I was in the throes of building a green home an hour outside Atlanta, Georgia. (Well, truthfully, I was in the throes of depression because my dad had just died, but that's another story.) In the process…
Some people argue against thermostat setbacks, saying they don't save energy anymore. The reasons behind that thinking, however, are flawed. Setting back your thermostat when you're away or at night definitely can save energy (depending on a few factors, as…
What better time than Valentine's Day to make a pitch for going to the system of units that the vast majority of the world uses. No, really, I'm dead serious. Here's my reasoning (and you know how good I am…
Last week I wrote a little article about the stack effect to explain that the flow of air and heat is upward in winter but downward in summer. Turns out, the stack effect is a hot topic. My article here…
Last week was Groundhog Day, and my question that day was, How can Punxatawney Phil (the weather predicting groundhog) or General Beauregard (his Southern counterpart) say anything at all about more winter when we haven't really had a winter at…
On Friday, the New York Times published an article about the Hartfords, an elderly couple in Dixfield, Maine who couldn't afford to pay for fuel oil for their leaky, inefficient home. I heard about it through social media from a…
Rule #1: You do not talk about Building Science Fight Club. Building science is not an objective subject to be discussed in a rational, calm way, always coming to the same conclusions. Yes, it's based on principles of physics that…