Some people argue against thermostat setbacks, saying they don't save energy anymore. The reasons behind that thinking, however, are flawed. Setting back your thermostat when you're away or at night definitely can save energy (depending on a few factors, as…
What better time than Valentine's Day to make a pitch for going to the system of units that the vast majority of the world uses. No, really, I'm dead serious. Here's my reasoning (and you know how good I am…
Last week I wrote a little article about the stack effect to explain that the flow of air and heat is upward in winter but downward in summer. Turns out, the stack effect is a hot topic. My article here…
Last week was Groundhog Day, and my question that day was, How can Punxatawney Phil (the weather predicting groundhog) or General Beauregard (his Southern counterpart) say anything at all about more winter when we haven't really had a winter at…
On Friday, the New York Times published an article about the Hartfords, an elderly couple in Dixfield, Maine who couldn't afford to pay for fuel oil for their leaky, inefficient home. I heard about it through social media from a…
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.…