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…
Independent home energy auditors have always been a rare breed. In the past decade, though, an army of them has gone through RESNET or BPI training programs and hit the streets in search of homes to analyze. At first, these…
We all have beliefs about energy, the economy, and growth. Mostly, we hold the beliefs of the people who influenced us growing up—our family, friends, and teachers—and the media voices we pay attention to. A lot of people don't see…
It's 2012, and I'm excited about the potential of the new year. I went to Possum Drop to ring in this new year, and we burned another possum effigy, this one loaded with more fireworks than ever and dressed to…