Buildings Aren’t Permanent
The old shack above has been around a long time. It still looks good in its old age, but you'd probably have to pour a lot of money into that building to make it useful again.This home looks nice. It…
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The #1 Reason to Have an All-Electric Home
Maybe you've heard the rumblings coming out of the environmental and building science crowd. Maybe not. But it's getting louder lately. The rumbling I'm alluding to is the move to switch from natural gas to electricity as the energy carrier…
Looking Back & Looking Forward in the New Year
Welcome to another January, this time in the year 2019. The month, of course, is named after the Roman god Janus, who has two faces, one looking backward, one forward. Because, you know, to really know where you're going, you…
New Year, New Opportunities to Make Better Buildings
Well, another year has come and gone. Out with the old, in with the new, and all that. A time for introspection and resolutions. Taking stock of where we are and plotting a course for where we want to be.…
61 Things We Should Ban to Improve Home Building
Let's face it. The state of home building isn't good. Yes, we have building science and energy codes and green building programs out the wazoo. We have cool new products and home energy raters and even Joe Lstiburek. Despite all…
Climate Change Is Just a Theory
So the United States has announced it's withdrawing from the Paris Accord, the international agreement with nonbinding measures to mitigate the effects of climate change. Now everyone's up in arms, speaking in exasperated tones about the travesty of this decision.…
The Building Trades Could Use More Women
The photo above is from one of the home energy rater classes we taught a few years ago. We had 13 students in that class. Only one was a woman. That ratio actually is comparable to what you see in…
Another Down Year for Heating Degree Days
We've had some beautiful, cool weather here in Atlanta the past couple of days. It's about 50° F outdoors as I write this. The high yesterday was only about 70° F. We're getting a few more heating degree days (HDD)…
Calculating the Global Warming Impact of Insulation
Everyone knows about the impact of burning fossil fuels on global warming. Maybe not everyone believes it, but scientists first started focusing attention on increasing carbon dioxide levels way back in 1827. The impact of insulation on global warming, however,…
Hawking Gives Humans 1000 Years to Leave Earth
There's big news this week. No, I'm not talking about the delayed opening of ski resorts out West because of the lack of snow. And, believe it or not, it has nothing at all to do with Donald Trump. I'm…