A while back I wrote about the incompatibility of putting an atmospheric combustion furnace in a sealed attic. Most often the attic is sealed by installing spray foam insulation at the roofline, thus bringing the attic inside the building enclosure…
We used to build houses without giving much thought to heat flow through the walls, ceilings, and floors. The main thing was to provide some resistance against wind and rain, and then we'd get a fire going to try to…
What is it about the number three? You've got the Three Musketeers, the Three Little Pigs, and the Three Stooges. Then there's three strikes (what every pitcher wants), three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial), and the three kinds…
Degree days are a combination of time and temperature. We looked at their uses and where they come from in part 1 of this series, and now it's time to go a little deeper. The temperature enters as a temperature…
Let's say you did some work on your home to make it more energy efficient - air sealing, more attic insulation, and a duct system retrofit. You've got your energy bills for 12 months before and 12 months after you…
The photo above shows a common problem in new homes. It's also one that can make it difficult to pass the blower door test required by many building codes these days. If I tell you that the wall pictured here…
This morning in my ASHRAE newsletter, I saw an interesting story about a cool thing Amazon.com is planning to do with heat. Amazon, in case you didn't know, is a heavy user of computers. Not only do their run their…
Back in 2009, I had a new air conditioner installed our condo. The previous one was an ancient 25 years old and barely limping along. It wasn't cooling much, and the summer electric bills had risen. So, I did a…
Clark Howard is the penny pincher's guru. My wife loves his radio show and website for all the money-saving tips he provides. Naturally, anyone trying to help people save money at home has to address energy use, and Howard does,…
Energy Vanguard's president, Dr. Allison Bailes, will teach a three-hour workshop called What You Need to Know About HVAC to Work with HVAC Pros at the Mid-Atlantic Sustainability Conference in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Aimed at architects, engineers, builders, raters, and students,…