Sometimes companies that make products stretch the truth, embellish features, or rely on their potential customers' ignorance of how things work. Shocking, I know. The world of electric heating has such companies. But if you're looking for a device that…
In case you hadn't heard, we had an inauguration for a new President of the United States this week. And Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders made one of the biggest sartorial splashes. Photographer Brendan Smialowski got a photo of Bernie sitting in a…
As a runner, I've had some direct experience with temperature regulation in the human body. In winter (and we're having a real one this year in Atlanta), I'm always faced with the choice of how to dress for the conditions…
Oh, the wonderful world of heating and air conditioning and its confusing terminology. I've been doing building science for nearly two decades now, and I still have to ask around sometimes to find out what what a particular term means. Here's…
We are now ten short days from the winter solstice and many of us in the Northern Hemisphere have been in heating season for a while. That means there's a lot more combustion happening in homes than there was in…
Let's talk about one of my favorite subjects: air. Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) that spreads it, the indoor air quality (IAQ) community—researchers, mediators, manufacturers, bloggers, groupies—is having a moment. This must be the…
Twitter is an utter hellscape in some ways, but it does have a few redeeming qualities. I've seen a lot of good information about the COVID-19 pandemic there, including ways to filter the indoor air for coronavirus and the emerging…
I hate it when I don't see ahead of time what seems obvious afterward. I've assembled a lot of things in my life, including a house and two VW engines, and I can't tell you how many times I've gotten…
People complicate things. If, say, you want to sell a motorcycle, you place an ad and interested potential buyers come check it out, maybe take it for a little ride, and then one of them buys it. But every once…
I briefly worked at a dry cleaning shop in St. Louis a long time ago. It was December, and we had a bout of super cold weather one week. The temperature dropped to 0° F at night and got up…