Building your first house as an owner-builder can be hectic, nerve-wracking, and wildly exhilarating. I experienced all those things and more when I built a house for myself 20 years ago. I've written a bit about it here in the…
My how the time flies. Ten years ago right now, I was David. A large insulation company was Goliath. They came after me for criticizing fiberglass batts in an article where I showed 7 photos of poorly installed fiberglass…
Climate zones for energy code purposes are defined in the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Every three years, that code gets updated. The map that was in the last version of the IECC, which came out in 2018, had been…
David Wasserman and I worked together at the Southface Energy Institute back in 2007-08 and have been friends since then. Before Southface, he was an engineer at Oak Ridge National Lab. We also call on him for occasional help with…
I won't keep you in suspense here. The answer is yes, absolutely. Uninsulated ducts damage your siding in a humid climate in some cases. I recently visited a house in Atlanta that has that very problem. If you haven't scrolled…
Relative humidity is such a confusing way to talk about moisture in the air. I've been hammering on this point for a decade in this blog, covering it in several different ways. (See the related articles below for more.) But…
Oh, how the news media love the “thermostat wars” between men and women. It’s a good source of stories based on conventional wisdom and the occasional (faulty or incomplete) research paper. The utility companies want in on the action, too.…
Ventilating homes in any climate has its challenges. In Duluth, Minnesota, it's the extremely cold weather in winter, which leads to extremely dry air when you bring it indoors. In Phoenix, Arizona, it's the extremely hot weather in summer, which…
It was two years ago this week we had the nasty old fossil gas natural draft water heater removed. (That's it in the photo below.) Outside of running a gasoline powered generator inside a house, this kind of water heater…
One of the most frequently asked questions regarding the type of balanced ventilation devices known as the energy recovery ventilator (ERV) and the heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is: "Can I get that in red?" OK, not really. Everyone knows that…