A Highrise Hotel Window Head Scratcher
The ASHRAE conference and AHR Expo were in Atlanta last week. Because I live here, I didn't have to stay in a hotel but a lot of people I know came to town and did stay in hotels. One of…
ventilation
7 Reasons Your Filter Isn’t Improving Your Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality (IAQ) researchers have established that little bitty invisible pieces of stuff that float around in the air are bad for human health. Of course, being scientists, they don't call it little bitty invisible pieces of stuff. They…
Which Indoor Air Pollutants Matter Most?
That face above is of a physician, alchemist, and astrologer named Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He is deemed the father of toxicology and is better known by the name Paracelsus. I begin this article with him because Dr.…
Even High-Performance Homes Get Crazy Ducts
I've posted a lot of crazy duct system photos here in this blog. Remember "Release the Kraken!"? How about "Two Jellyfish Mating"? And about three years ago I found one that instantly became my new favorite duct disaster. But those…
The 2 Main Problems With Kitchen Ventilation
Energy efficiency is a gateway drug to building science. When you really start learning about it, you come to the inescapable conclusion that there's so much more to making homes better than just saving energy. A house is a system,…
What Percent of Time Do You Spend Indoors?
Back in 2004, as I was immersing myself in the world of building science and green building, I took the US Green Building Council's exam to become a LEED Accredited Professional. I bought their book. I took a study course…
Using a White Noise Generator to Reduce Humidity
Nope. Today is not the first of April. Nor is this one of those special April Fools' Day articles I write at random times. This one's real. A white noise generator has now been used in at least one home…
An Update on the Residential Ventilation Debate
It's been a while since I've written about what I had been calling "The Great Ventilation Debate" back when Joe Lstiburek was battling the ASHRAE 62.2 residential ventilation committee. The 62.2 committee meets in person twice a year at the…
ASHRAE Conferences — Where Theory Meets the Real World
I've been going to the meetings of the ASHRAE residential ventilation committee (SSPC 62.2, to be specific) for the past few years. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this article from my room in Houston, the site of the…
Common Problems With Cold Weather Ventilation
When I woke up Saturday morning, the temperature outdoors was -40 degrees†. The wind chill was -100 degrees! It was just unbelievably, impossibly, inhumanly cold outside. Fortunately, that was on a mountaintop in New Hampshire and not where I was.…