How Do Suction Cups Work?
Have you ever thought about how suction cups work? It's got to be suction, right? Or is it? As it turns out, all we need is some basic physics to explain suction cups. And of course there's a connection between…
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Is That Really Condensation?
Look at that photo above. Is condensation really responsible for all that moisture you see? We use the term "condensation" a lot when talking about water vapor interacting with materials. But when it comes to porous materials like wood, concrete,…
Hotels Have a Humidity Problem
If you travel with a hygrometer, as any seasoned traveler should, what I have to show you here is nothing new. But if instead you've never measured the relative humidity in a hotel room, I've got something interesting for you…
Preparing an Old Home for Electrification, Part 2
The electrification movement is accelerating, so let's go back to this topic again and look at how to electrify an older house. In part 1 of this series, I listed some important questions to ask. Today, I'll cover some steps…
The Easy Way to Switch to a Heat Pump
With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rebates and other energy efficiency incentives out there now, it's a great time to start using a heat pump to heat your home. If you're currently heating with a furnace and have an air…
Open-Loop vs. Closed-Loop Ground Source Heat Pumps
I mainly talk about air source heat pumps here. But ground-source heat pumps are an important type of heat pump, too. So today, let's look at the issue of open-loop vs. closed-loop design when installing this type of heat…
How Well Do You Understand Psychrometrics?
So you think you understand psychrometrics, eh? OK then. Let's do a little quiz today and test your psychrometric knowledge. These questions include some basic stuff and some more complicated stuff about the subject, but you don't need to use…
Do You Really Need That Much Window Area?
Windows are thermal bridges in pretty much every home. The best windows available have an R-value of only about 12. More affordable windows are in the R-3 to R-6 range. Wall R-values are in the 13 to 15 range on…
5 Tons Is Never the Right Answer
We do a lot of HVAC design (third party, all over the US) at Energy Vanguard. I've also written a lot about it here in this blog and in my book. And if you've been reading any of those pieces,…
My Northeast Building Science Book Tour
I'll be hitting the road with a car full of books in a couple of days. I'm heading out for a building science book tour of the Northeast. My first book tour event is in Rochester, New York next Tuesday,…