Psssst. Want a $2000 tax credit for that energy efficient new home you're building? A lot of home builders have taken advantage of this incentive since it was introduced in 2005. (37,506 homes got that $2000 in 2010 alone.) The requirements…
Yesterday I got to see something I learned about only two weeks ago at Building Science Summer Camp. That's where I found out that 85% of all expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam insulation in Germany is grey because it has graphite…
After a nice dinner at La Palette in Toronto one evening, I began walking down Queen Street as I headed back toward my hotel. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied a piece of paper on the ground.…
Should you use natural gas heating rather than a heat pump in your home? Some say the interest in heat pumps is fueled by irrational exuberance. Others say that because they require supplemental heat, heat pump performance is not acceptable.…
Let me tell you a little story about the day that Jeffrey went to test several Habitat for Humanity houses that are going for certification in the ENERGY STAR new homes program (the one in the photo here was not…
The typical new home gets a heating and air conditioning system that's about two times too large. Look, I've discussed oversized air conditioners many times before. Most HVAC contractors use a rule of thumb that says they should put in…
My Building Science Summer Camp photo highlights was article number 500 published in the Energy Vanguard Blog! I starting writing this blog on 7 March 2010 and have poured innumerable hours into it since. The actual number is higher than…
Last week, Joe Lstiburek gave the fifth annual twitterview† from his crawl space. (When he gets back from sailing this week, Peter Troast of Energy Circle has promised to publish the transcript.) One of the pearls of wisdom dispensed by…
Building Science Summer Camp ended yesterday. It's been another fabulous event, the third one I've attended since getting myself invited by writing this piece that caught Joe Lstiburek's attention. As I wind down and reflect on the things I learned…
The great ventilation debate of 2013 roars on. Last month, I wrote about Building Science Corporation's residential ventilation standard for new homes, to be released officially at Building Science Summer Camp this week, and then followed that up with an…