A lot of houses have atmospheric combustion appliances. What that means is that a lot of houses have the potential for problems with atmospheric combustion, including serious health and safety problems as well as higher energy bills. First, let me…
After receiving accreditation from RESNET as a HERS Rater Training Provider, Energy Vanguard has moved quickly to establish itself as one of the leaders in the field. One resource we provide that is unparalleled among HERS trainers is our blog,…
This is the second article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
This is the first article of a two-part guest post by David Butler of Optimal Building Systems in Arizona and a frequent commenter in the RESNET BPI group on LinkedIn. I've known David for a couple of years now, and…
About a year ago, I had lunch with someone who was in the process of refinancing his 50 year old home. He was doing the refi merely to lower his interest rate and monthly payments, but he missed out on…
[This post was written by former EV employee Chris Laumer-Giddens.] I live in a high-rise condominium in Midtown Atlanta. In an earlier post about this energy hog of a building, I focused on the huge heat loss conditions that exist, the…
It's been cold out lately, so I've been talking about heat. When I talk to people about how heat pumps can keep your home warm in winter, they usually get a look of bewilderment on their faces. How is that…
Back in grad school, I was taking a class in surface physics, and my friend Steve asked, "What is temperature?" On first hearing that question, you might think it's so obvious that it doesn't even bear asking, and anyone who…
About two years in the making, ENERGY STAR Version 3 is in the home stretch to adoption. Starting with homes permitted on or after 1 April 2011, the new guidelines begin the transition to being fully required by 1 January…
I've been involved with ENERGY STAR homes since 2004, when it was still in Version 1 of the program. It wasn't called that at the time, though. It was just ENERGY STAR. At that time, a home needed only one…