Yesterday we began our latest HERS rater class, training a new group of home energy raters. We have 11 students this time, mostly from Georgia but also one from Virginia and one from Tennessee. We spent the first half of…
Recently I've learned of two people running their heat pump in a way that costs them a lot of extra money. With heat pumps, there's an extra setting on the thermostat.* In addition to heat, cool, and off, there's a…
Last week, I did my first webinar. Along with Jason Payne of Structured Energies and EEM Training, I discussed the Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM), theory and application. I handled the theory side, and Jason, who's actually done a bunch of…
The new Georgia energy code, based on the 2009 IECC, moves our state a step ahead of other states. The major new requirement is that all new homes be tested for infiltration rates with a Blower Door. As far as…
Put your hand out, palm up. Believe it or not, you're now holding about 200 pounds of air in your hand. You may have heard that standard atmospheric pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch. Your hand is probably in…
This is the second article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
This is the first article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
Snow on the Roof is the poor man's infrared camera. During the snow days we just had in Atlanta, Jeffrey Sauls sent me the photo above. What you see is the roof of his own house, which he'd had insulated…
One of my all time favorite books is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It’s really good on a lot of levels, but one thing that really stuck with me was the author’s discussion of how…
About a year ago, I had lunch with someone who was in the process of refinancing his 50 year old home. He was doing the refi merely to lower his interest rate and monthly payments, but he missed out on…