10 Reasons to Buy a Home Energy Audit on Cyber Monday
For about the same price as you'd pay for an iPad, you can buy a home energy audit to give to a loved one this holiday season. Yes, the iPad is sexier. Yes, the iPad is more fun. Yes, everyone…
diagnostic/performance testing
Do Cardboard Ducts Belong in a LEED Certified Home?
Recently I came across a LEED certified house that had cardboard return ducts. They were all inside the building envelope, but it seemed clear to me that they could lead to problems. Even if the home builder or HVAC contractor…
Building Codes Assistance Project — Your Source for Energy Code Info
I've been a big advocate of the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and its adoption by states. We adopted it here in Georgia last year, and it's now fully in effect, including the requirement for Blower Door and duct…
Blower Door Testers Wanted – Scientists and Engineers Preferred
OK, the title here may be a little extreme, but if you've taken a look at the new chapter on performance testing and scope of work in the HERS Standards, you know what I'm talking about. RESNET just adopted this…
Home Energy Rater Training — Our First Year Review
Energy Vanguard has been a Home Energy Rater Training Provider for one year now. We received our accreditation from RESNET in July 2010, and we just finished up our fourth class. As always right after a class, I'm both exhausted…
16 Random Thoughts on the First Day of Building Science Summer Camp
Well, my first day of the 2011 Building Science Summer Camp, officially called the Fifteenth Annual Westford Symposium on Building Science, has come to an end. It's been a great day up here in Westford, Massachusetts, (right next to Chelmsford,…
Air Barrier Sleuthing – Building Envelope Lessons for DET Verifiers
The first bit of sleuthing you may need to do here is to figure out what the heck a DET verifier is. Well, we have a new energy code here in Georgia, and the requirement that all new homes (and…
HVAC Therapy for Energy Code Flunkees – “It’s Not Your Fault”
[Guest post by certified HERS Rater Jeffrey Sauls about his experience with the new Georgia energy code requirements for duct tightness testing.] [Guest post by certified HERS Rater Jeffrey Sauls about his experience with the new Georgia energy code requirements…
Should You Get Your Air Conditioner’s Ducts Cleaned?
Sometimes you have to go at something backwards or inside out or sideways. Sometimes you've got to invert the normal thinking. Sometimes you have to invert it once and then invert it again to get something completely different, as Frank…
Does Energy Efficiency Drive Home Builders out of Business?
A couple of months ago, I was reading a discussion in one of the many LinkedIn groups that I belong to and came acros a comment arguing that energy efficiency requirements drive builders out of business. Here's part of what…