Down the Drain! — Heat Recovery for Your Hot Water
Do you use hot water in your home? I thought so. You have a water heater then, right? You know, one of those things that you pump money into all the time, perhaps to the tune of $300 or $400…
Blog
The Most Important Lesson I Learned in Grad School
I spent seven years in graduate school studying physics to get my PhD. You might think that the most valuable lesson I got from that experience would have been about the nature of physical reality. I was studying the positions…
Batts, Blown, or Sprayed – What’s the Best Attic Insulation?
I get asked a lot of questions about windows, air conditioning, and other energy efficiency topics: What size HVAC system should I install? Is it true you can seal a house up too tight? Can I use a CFL bulb…
Are Radiant Barriers Cost Effective in New Homes?
Radiant barriers are cool! Well, actually they get quite warm, but they help the space below them stay cooler when used on a roof assembly above an unconditioned attic. They can drop the temperature of an attic about 20° F.…
To Heck with Duct Design! Let’s Just Throw the Vents Anywhere
You'd think with all the articles I've written about bad duct installations that it'd be hard to find more to write about here. After all, I've told you about stumpy (photo left) and panned joist return ducts and what may…
Cajuns, Living Down the Bayou, and Peak Oil
I’m not a Cajun myself, but I lived with the Cajuns in south Louisiana for eight years. In 1971, my mom moved us to that area, and we ended up in a place called Chauvin on a narrow strip of…
Under Construction: ENERGY STAR Version 3 Home in Atlanta, Georgia
Here's a house we designed for a builder in the historic Grant Park neighborhood in Atlanta, which should be completed by January 1, 2012. The home is 2-stories, has 4-bedrooms and 3-and-a-half baths, and is just under 2,200 square feet. The builder decided…
5 Questions to Ask When Replacing Your Air Conditioner
Air conditioners don't last forever. Shocking, I know. The good news, though, is that if you have an old air conditioning system, replacing it should save you money. Efficiency has improved a lot since that old hunk of metal and…
Navigating the Twilight Zone: The Hidden Flaw in a Zoned Duct System
Ah, so what exactly is this hidden flaw? "My HVAC guy put a zoned system in my house and told me it was the cat's pajamas," you may be thinking about now. Or maybe your HVAC installer described it as…
Dew Point — A More Meaningful Measure of Humidity?
Did the grass outside have dew on it this morning where you live? It did here. (That photo above is the actual dew on the actual grass on this actual morning just outside my actual house!) The appearance of liquid…