Insolation Is Not a Typo for Insulation
In 1993 I took a graduate course in solar energy from Professor Yogi Goswami. It was a great course, and one of the projects we had to do was to compile a whole binder full of solar radiation data for…
insulation
A Beautiful Solar Home in Utah Nears Net Zero Energy Use
I'm writing this on St. Patrick's Day so let me tell you a wee bit about the O'Mearas. Kevin and Svetlana O'Meara live in a beautiful home in Utah that's oh-so-close to being a net zero energy home. After I…
The Layers and Pathways of Heat Flow in Buildings
We used to build houses without giving much thought to heat flow through the walls, ceilings, and floors. The main thing was to provide some resistance against wind and rain, and then we'd get a fire going to try to…
The One Thing I’d Love to See Building Enclosure Workers Do
I think a lot about building enclosures. I've looked at a whole lot of houses and seen a whole lot of problems with the enclosure. I've also seen a few good ones, although they're all too rare. If you've been…
Fiberglass Insulation Manufacturer Gets Serious About Installation
One of the major fiberglass insulation manufacturers (the color in the photo below gives away which one I'm talking about) is getting serious about the installation quality of fiberglass batt insulation. They've put out a video (embedded below) and a…
The Fundamentals of Heating and Cooling Degree Days, Part 1
Let's say you did some work on your home to make it more energy efficient - air sealing, more attic insulation, and a duct system retrofit. You've got your energy bills for 12 months before and 12 months after you…
How Much Should You Worry About Asbestos in the Home?
Asbestos was a popular material for most of the twentieth century, mainly because of its ability to insulate and act as a fire retardant. In fact, it's still used heavily in some parts of the world, such as India and…
The Diminishing Returns of Adding More Insulation
If you're building a house and want to have a really good building enclosure, you need it to be airtight, handle moisture properly, and have a good amount of insulation. Ideally, you'd also consider the effects of solar radiation on the…
Insulation to Go – Creativity in the Attic
Someone got creative with their attic insulation! Yes, those are foam peanuts and restaurant to-go boxes. Bill Box, a home inspector in our energy rater class this week, found this in an attic on a recent inspection he did. I…
Why Is Clark Howard Giving Bad Energy-Saving Advice?
Clark Howard is the penny pincher's guru. My wife loves his radio show and website for all the money-saving tips he provides. Naturally, anyone trying to help people save money at home has to address energy use, and Howard does,…