Allison Arthur Bailes III, PhD, died on the morning of 4 January 2011. His wife found him slumped over the keyboard of his computer, where he collapsed after working on yet another blog article. Apparently the pressure to write, which…
As it turns out, I did not make it to the annual Possum Drop to ring in the new year. The photo below is one I took last year. I also did not publish any blog articles last week, the…
Martin Holladay, the famous Energy Nerd from Green Building Advisor and one of my favorite building science geeks, outdid himself this year with his building science variations of famous Christmas carols. Our friends at Energy Circle, who are much more…
I like the Sun! It's what got me interested in building science, actually. Growing up in the '70s, I heard a lot of talk about the environment, our energy problems, and solar energy. I didn't really do much with that…
It's been cold out lately, so I've been talking about heat. When I talk to people about how heat pumps can keep your home warm in winter, they usually get a look of bewilderment on their faces. How is that…
Back in grad school, I was taking a class in surface physics, and my friend Steve asked, "What is temperature?" On first hearing that question, you might think it's so obvious that it doesn't even bear asking, and anyone who…
After I wrote an article this past week about the problem of restrictive wall caps reducing dryer vent air flow, I heard from David Williams, a fellow resident as well as a contractor who's done a lot of work here…
Starting on the 1st of January 2011, all new homes permitted in Georgia must have a Blower Door test! You heard, right? I've written about this twice before - last April, when the new Georgia state energy code was finalized…
As I've mentioned here before, I live in a 40 year old condo that's a good example of what happens when you build something without understanding the principles of building science. I've previously written about the crawl space problems in…
It seems so simple. There’s outside, and there’s inside. The walls, ceilings, and floors that separate the cold outside from the warm inside should be the only surfaces that rob heat from your home. Interior walls have conditioned space on…