As I've mentioned here before, I live in a 40 year old condo that's a good example of what happens when you build something without understanding the principles of building science. I've previously written about the crawl space problems in…
It seems so simple. There’s outside, and there’s inside. The walls, ceilings, and floors that separate the cold outside from the warm inside should be the only surfaces that rob heat from your home. Interior walls have conditioned space on…
I've been involved with ENERGY STAR homes since 2004, when it was still in Version 1 of the program. It wasn't called that at the time, though. It was just ENERGY STAR. At that time, a home needed only one…
It just drives me crazy! When you see news stories in the media about improving your home's energy efficiency, they invariably tell you to caulk your windows and weatherstrip your doors. There are enough home energy pros now that we…
Last week I got the new version of REM/Rate, the accredited home energy rating software that we use here at Energy Vanguard Energy Ratings, and it has the ENERGY STAR Version 2.5 and Version 3 requirements built in. I've checked…
Nine years it's been already. It's hard to believe it's been that long. In 2001, I was building a house out of structural insulated panels (SIPs) - and loving it! It was an absolutely gorgeous month to spend outdoors in…
As we approach Christmas, I am reminded of the days when my siblings and I would, one by one, make our way down to the Family Room on Christmas morning to count the number of gifts for each of us.…
"In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" Homer Simpson said that, and it's good advice for all of us. Actually, we don't really have a choice, you know. If, out of ignorance or dissent, we do things that…
You open the door and are immediately assaulted by the damp, musty smell, even before taking a full step inside. If you're hyper-sensitive to these smells, you probably can't even go in without a respirator. If you're not that sensitive…
As I mentioned in my review of the first day of this special ENERGY STAR Version 3 training, it wasn’t really a train-the-trainer session, and they admitted as much at the beginning of day 1. What it became instead was…