So, you've got a heating and cooling system in your home. There's a metal box outside that makes noise, and you control it with the thermostat on the wall. Can you tell me right now whether it's a heat pump…
Ah, the meaning of the Second Law of Thermodynamics! I might as well ask, What is the meaning of life? It's a fascinating question and one that we can approach from a lot of different angles. Since this is a…
GUEST POST: As the Affordable Comfort conference kicks off today, it's appropriate to take a look at what comfort is and how we construct buildings to have the best shot at getting it. Robert Bean is an engineer in Calgary…
Yesterday I was doing a home energy rating for quality assurance in Augusta, Georgia, and the house I was in had a bonus room. Bonus rooms are often the least comfortable room in a house, and the main reason is…
Some people argue against thermostat setbacks, saying they don't save energy anymore. The reasons behind that thinking, however, are flawed. Setting back your thermostat when you're away or at night definitely can save energy (depending on a few factors, as…
Last week I wrote a little article about the stack effect to explain that the flow of air and heat is upward in winter but downward in summer. Turns out, the stack effect is a hot topic. My article here…
Last week was Groundhog Day, and my question that day was, How can Punxatawney Phil (the weather predicting groundhog) or General Beauregard (his Southern counterpart) say anything at all about more winter when we haven't really had a winter at…
On Friday, the New York Times published an article about the Hartfords, an elderly couple in Dixfield, Maine who couldn't afford to pay for fuel oil for their leaky, inefficient home. I heard about it through social media from a…
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.…
The transition to ENERGY STAR Version 3 accelerated on 1 January. That's when Version 2 of the program expired. Now all new homes in the program will qualify under Version 2.5 or Version 3, depending on the dates of permitting…