I built a house out of structural insulated panels (SIPs) before I'd ever done—or even watched—a blower door test. It turned out to be pretty dang airtight, too, despite my lack of air sealing experience at the time. If I'd…
Every business has slow periods. New businesses often have plenty of non-billable time, when the owner(s) and employees can work on things that help ensure success but that are often difficult to find time for once the jobs start rolling…
I was a kid a long, long time ago. Seems like it was another century...another millennium even. Wait a minute — it was another millennium! That was back in the day when we used to ride bicycles without helmets, apply…
Occasionally I get asked if it's OK to put the condensing unit for an air conditioner or heat pump in a garage or other room that's a buffer space. The thinking is that since the temperature may not be as…
Texas is a hot state, right? Certainly then, homes in my original home state use more energy for air conditioning than for heating. That's why they need such massive air conditioners, like the one you see here. Right? Not so…
On my trip to Aspen, Colorado last week, when I learned to ski, I noticed an interesting snow pattern on a lot of the roofs of the houses near where we stayed. Not being from snow country, I didn't know…
Did you know that if your state has adopted the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), you cannot install an open wood-burning fireplace in a new home? It's true. According to the BCAP-OCEAN code status website, 30 states are on…
Martin Holladay, the Energy Nerd of Green Building Advisor, is in Atlanta this week to speak at the Greenprints conference put on by Southface Energy Institute. He asked if I could take him to see some homes in Georgia so…
I spent a few days in Colorado this past week. This was a rare trip for me: It wasn't for business or a conference. My wife, Elaine, and I went there on a belated honeymoon (we got married in 2009),…
Really, the argument about whether you should vent a crawl space in a humid climate is over. Advanced Energy's research project from 2002 proved that closed crawl spaces outperform vented crawl spaces. A quick look at the psychrometric chart shows…