Rule #1: You do not talk about Building Science Fight Club. Building science is not an objective subject to be discussed in a rational, calm way, always coming to the same conclusions. Yes, it's based on principles of physics that…
Heat rises. Everyone knows that, right? It's absolutely true. Heat does rise. The problem is that sometimes people say this as if the flow of heat is driven by its wanting to rise. It's not. Heat can move up, down,…
Buildings use a lot of energy. We spend the majority of our time inside them, controlling the temperature, using computers, charging cell phones, keeping our food cold, getting our food hot, taking hot showers...all those things we do in our…
President Obama delivered the 2012 State of the Union address last night. In a 7000 word speech, he devoted about 800 words to energy. The majority of those words were about oil, natural gas, and clean energy - the supply…
I like James Watt as much as the next person. He was one of the people whose inventions helped advance the Industrial Revolution with his refining of the steam engine. He invented an early copying machine. And he was Scottish.…
The transition to ENERGY STAR Version 3 accelerated on 1 January. That's when Version 2 of the program expired. Now all new homes in the program will qualify under Version 2.5 or Version 3, depending on the dates of permitting…
In addition to getting out and enjoying some sunny January weather, I did a little reading this weekend. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) just released a new report, The Long-Term Energy Efficiency Potential: What the Evidence Suggests,…
I've made my living solely as a home energy pro since 2004, and I was building a high performance home for two years before that. For six of the past eight years, I've been running my own business, and Energy…
Last Saturday, I was doing some stuff around the house, and my wife had the radio tuned into one of those home repair talk shows. I don't listen to those shows much because they usually say something that drives me…
This time of year, I see a lot of ads for various types of electric space heaters. They all promise that you'll save money by using them rather than whatever other type of heat you have in your home. Some…