Which do you think would have the bigger impact: Building better new houses or fixing existing homes? Well, let's do the numbers. In 2024, building departments across the US issued just shy of 1.5 million building permits for new homes…
Let's talk about the blower door today. It's one of the most important tools for analyzing the performance of a house. And it's THE tool for quantifying air leakage. That, of course, is related to energy use, comfort, indoor air…
Since we're on the topic of energy, let's extend last week's discussion of electric resistance heat efficiency. I've sometimes told people that "a BTU is a BTU." (For the rest of the world, the conversion is simple: "A joule is…
I've been making a statement for a long time that sometimes gets called out as inaccurate. The story began in the second month of this blog back in April 2010 when I wrote an article titled When Is 100% Efficient…
I missed an opportunity. You may recall the retrofit I did in 2022 to get faster hot water at three of my fixtures. It made a huge improvement, but it could have been even better. But before I go there,…
Are you afraid of heat pumps? Some people are, and it's usually related to experiences or stories of uncomfortably cold homes. I won't deny that there have been some horror stories about people suffering in brutally low indoor temperatures during…
I've written a lot of articles about ducts here, but I haven't yet addressed today's topic: common problems with ducts and how to fix them. This one is for homeowners or renters who want to save money and be more…
The two primary ways you can heat your house are by burning a fuel (e.g., fossil gas, fuel oil, wood) or using electricity. Furnaces and boilers distribute the heat from combustion to heat a house. Electric resistance heat makes sense…
Sometimes companies that make products stretch the truth, embellish features, or rely on their potential customers' ignorance of how things work. Shocking, I know. The world of electric heating has such companies. But if you're looking for a device that…
I found this little quiz on Twitter the other day. I got 9 correct out of 12, but I'd like to dispute one of my wrong answers. One of the answers surprised me. And I was glad to see one…