Heat rises. Everyone knows that, right? It's absolutely true. Heat does rise. The problem is that sometimes people say this as if the flow of heat is driven by its wanting to rise. It's not. Heat can move up, down,…
I like James Watt as much as the next person. He was one of the people whose inventions helped advance the Industrial Revolution with his refining of the steam engine. He invented an early copying machine. And he was Scottish.…
I've made my living solely as a home energy pro since 2004, and I was building a high performance home for two years before that. For six of the past eight years, I've been running my own business, and Energy…
This is the time of year when a lot of otherwise sane people get out their crystal balls and tell us what's going to happen in the coming year. Well, I don't have a crystal ball, so instead I got…
Let's take a look at this saying that some people take as truth: Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. You know it's a lie, right? Not only does it show arrogance and complete misunderstanding of what teaching…
We've made a few videos here at Energy Vanguard and will be adding a lot more to our TheEnergyVanguard YouTube channel. Videos are great for learning about building science and home energy audits, so here are some of my favorite…
Remember that science class where you learned about the three forms of heat flow: conduction, convection, and radiation? Well, class, let's make it real today. You insulate your walls, floors, and ceilings to limit the amount of heat your home…
I hear a lot of people call themselves building science geeks, energy nerds, home performance dorks, HVAC dweebs, weatherization wonks, and policy poindexters. (It's true! Some of them are imaginary people in my mind and some are aliens, but they…
If you live in an older house with inefficient, single-pane windows, you may have noticed water condensing on the inside surface of the glass lately. Fall happens to be a pretty good time for that to happen. Do you know…
Heating and cooling your home sucks more money out of your bank account than any other type of energy consumption (unless you live in a high performance home, in which case the proportions are different but the total is smaller).…