If you have an attached garage where you live, the odds are high that your indoor air quality is worse than a home without an attached garage. Just take a look at the photo below to see some of the…
Everyone loves skylights. Right? They bring so much light into a room they can turn a Seattle kitchen into a bright and sunny Florida room. Especially this time of year (in the Northern Hemisphere), having that extra light brighten even…
Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, said "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Bohr was a pretty smart guy, having been one of the folks who got the whole quantum physics thing going a century ago, and…
In 2005, I was deep in the throes of my peak oil obsession. I went to a couple of conferences that fall and at the big one in Denver, I met a guy who gave me a little glimpse into…
The year 2015 is almost finished. I've written 69 articles here in the Energy Vanguard Blog. I've been to a bunch of conferences and talked to a lot of people. A lot of thoughts about building science, energy efficiency, indoor…
I saw this portable toilet yesterday at a new home job site. I'd actually seen it a few days earlier from the road and thought maybe someone had backed into it with their truck. Yesterday I drove in to see…
I was at a meeting recently when the discussion turned to wall assemblies. One of the speakers then asked what we should do about vapor barriers. It's what everyone wants to know, right? Should I use a vapor barrier? Should…
I read a lot of stuff online about insulation and air barriers and other building science topics. I see a fair number of articles bashing certain products or materials. Sometimes it's because the author sells a competing product. Sometimes they…
"Oops! The house just had an accident. Whose turn is it to clean it up?" Yep. We're entering the season of accidental dehumidification. If you've got windows that start collecting water, like the one shown above, you're a victim of…
The world of electricity is changing quickly. With all the photovoltaic modules out there generating solar power and the advent of the smart meter, there's a revolution going on within the electric utility industry. I wrote a little bit about…