I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday, full of memories of big meals at my grandparents' house in Leesville, Louisiana. We all sat around the big round table made by my grandfather, Allison Sr., ate way too much turkey, stuffing,…
Recently I saw an episode of Extreme Home Makeover in which Ty Pennington and crew built a house for an Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because noise was a huge trigger for the stress attacks he experienced…
Let's take a look at this saying that some people take as truth: Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. You know it's a lie, right? Not only does it show arrogance and complete misunderstanding of what teaching…
We've made a few videos here at Energy Vanguard and will be adding a lot more to our TheEnergyVanguard YouTube channel. Videos are great for learning about building science and home energy audits, so here are some of my favorite…
Remember that science class where you learned about the three forms of heat flow: conduction, convection, and radiation? Well, class, let's make it real today. You insulate your walls, floors, and ceilings to limit the amount of heat your home…
Ten years ago I was building a green home. It had passive solar features, was built out of structural insulated panels, sent all the greywater out to the back yard to water fruit trees, and was going to be super…
Yesterday I received an email and letter from Steve Ziessler, president and CEO of Guardian Building Products. In it, he apologized for their heavy-handed approach to expressing their displeasure with seeing their fiberglass batts pictured in an article on poor…
[UPDATE: 11/8/11 I received an apology today from the president and CEO of Guardian. More about that in the follow-up post.] See that photo? It's one of the reasons that I received a nasty letter from Guardian Building Products, a manufacturer…
This is the time of year when I start really appreciating hot water. We're getting a little bit of chilly weather, and those hot showers feel really nice in the morning. But that hot water† that reaches me in the…
Hey, Californians, look out. You're not number 1 anymore. Nope. You're number 2 now. In their annual assessment of how the states are doing with energy efficiency, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has pronounced Massachusetts the…