My Big Fat Oversized Air Conditioner
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…
The Energy Vanguard Blog
Why Is RESNET Limiting Its Options for Improvement?
In case you haven't heard, last year RESNET created a task force to look at ways to improve the consistency of results among certified home energy raters (aka HERS raters). One week ago, executive director Steve Baden sent an email…
Moisture and the Quirkiness of OSB
Oriented strand board (OSB) gets blamed for a lot of problems that are really the fault of the designers and builders. Part of the problem, of course, is the perrenial confusion between correlation and causality. OSB hit the market as…
5 Reasons to Attend the Passive House Conference in California
The 9th annual North American Passive House Conference is less than a month away. You knew it's going to be in California, right? It's unfortunate that the other passive house group has chosen to use the same name PHIUS has…
Why Is Clark Howard Giving Bad Energy-Saving Advice?
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,…
Are You Making This Mistake with Humidity?
I want you to think about humidity today. Look at the photo above. What do you see? Dew drops on blades of grass. Where did that water come from? Out of the air. What was it about the air that…
Matt Risinger’s Building Science Summer Camp Interviews
August for me is dominated by Building Science Summer Camp. It's a great event with lots of learning, great discussions, and meeting friends, old and new. I'll be writing about Dr. Chris Timusk's presentation on his OSB research later and…
The Pen Test — A Control Layers Tool for Architects and Contractors
I listened to the IAQ Radio podcast a couple of weeks ago when they interviewed Lew Harriman and Terry Brennan, who were discussing the new moisture control guide published by the EPA last year. Brennan is the lead author of…
4 Ventilation Quotes That Will Rock Your IAQ World
I've been writing some articles on ventilation for the Journal of Light Construction lately and have come across some great material. The first quote here makes the point about indoor air quality with a graphic underwear metaphor. It's from an…
Can You Save Money by Closing HVAC Vents in Unused Rooms?
Your air conditioner, heat pump, or furnace probably uses a lot of energy. Heating and cooling makes up about half of the total energy use in a typical house. For air conditioners and heat pumps using electricity generated in fossil-fuel…