Several years ago, I heard something really interesting at a talk by a self-described futurist. It's an interesting "Futurists," she said, "look at weak signals and try to figure out which ones will become strong signals." I hadn't thought…
Unless you have a simple, small home, you probably want more than one thermostat to control the heating and cooling. That lets you control the conditions separately in different areas. And that's where zoning comes in. A common example is…
OK, you're thinking of replacing that old furnace in your home with a new heat pump. But you have doubts. You've heard that heat pumps don't heat as well as furnaces. (Wrong.) Or that they'll jack up your electricity bills…
Imagine the house of your dreams. It's beautiful and laid out efficiently. You're always comfortable. It promotes health and happiness. The operating costs are low. You don't have to spend much to maintain it. You don't get a lot of…
It's been a good year in the Energy Vanguard Blog. Counting this one, I've published 46 articles during the year. Of the previous 45 articles, I think the following might be ten most important ones. This is just my own…
I've written a lot of articles about ducts here, but I haven't yet addressed today's topic: common problems with ducts and how to fix them. This one is for homeowners or renters who want to save money and be more…
When can doing something good for your house turn into something bad? Hmmm. There are way too many answers to that question, so let me narrow it down. Is it possible to make your ducts more airtight, a good thing,…
The central vs dedicated return vent debate has a clear winner. But first, let me explain the terminology. A forced-air heating and cooling system has supply ducts that blow conditioned air into the rooms of your house. That's the part…
It's the last day of the year, so let's wrap it up with some lists. Whether you missed some of the articles I wrote this year or are just curious about what other people were reading here, I've got three…
Yesterday I visited a home being built by a national production home building company. As you can tell from the title of this article, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that building enclosures have improved,…