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…
With winter beginning soon and energy prices climbing, let's talk about energy efficiency. And I'm not talking about that standard crap about caulking the windows and weatherstripping the doors. (You may recall that I've advised people NOT to caulk the…
You'd think that after more than 12 years and a thousand-plus articles, I'd have mentioned all the major building science terms by now. Yet, here we are. I just did a search of all the articles in this blog and…
I've been known to argue for using building science terms correctly. I've written articles about how we shouldn't use the word "breathe" in relation to houses and that air doesn't have any capacity for holding water vapor. I've even written…
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…
My how the time flies. Ten years ago right now, I was David. A large insulation company was Goliath. They came after me for criticizing fiberglass batts in an article where I showed 7 photos of poorly installed fiberglass…
I recently finished writing the chapter on the interaction of structure and control layers in my book. The last part was on the various ways to insulate the top of a house. The most common, of course, is to have…
The purpose of my Building Science Term of the Week feature is to provide a basic definition of a term you may have heard without going into all the whys and wherefores. Last week I probably went a little overboard…
Building enclosure control freaks know that a good exterior sheathing can make a huge difference in performance. Controlling the flows of moisture, air, and heat requires good control layers. A lot of materials and methods will get you there, but…
Back in my home performance contracting days (2004 to 2007), I spent a lot of time in unconditioned attics and crawl spaces. First, I was there to find problems. Then, if the homeowners hired me, I'd go in and do…