And now for a little Friday fun, here's one of my favorite duct design failures. I call it Stumpy. What's happened here is that the contractor who retrofitted the duct system just cut this one off mid-run. The problem is…
I recall a lot of talk in the early ‘90s about the ‘peace dividend’ and how we’d spend it. This new term entered our lexicon because of the fall of the Soviet Union and the supposed billions of dollars that…
I know, I know. If you've had a HERS rater class or any education in residential building science, the alarms are going off in your head right now - WAANNNHHHHH WAANNNHHHHH WAANNNHHHHH! Please, let me explain. I know, I know.…
What images come to mind for you when I say 'home energy rater class'? The word class (or classroom), as used here, usually evokes images of desks in neat rows, with students attentively looking at the teacher standing in the…
I love TED talks! Today I discovered this one, thanks to Gary Smith of Energy Rated Homes of Mississippi. I love TED talks! Today I discovered this one, thanks to Gary Smith of Energy Rated Homes of Mississippi. In this…
Yesterday I bought a Flip Video UltraHD camcorder, so you'll be seeing some videos appear on the Energy Vanguard website soon. As a matter of fact, I'm heading out to Carrollton this morning to tape Jason Payne of Structured Energies…
Beginning 1 January 2011, the new Georgia state energy code will require Blower Door testing for all new single family homes. This is amazing progress! As far as I know, Georgia is the first state to go this far with…
![This House Is A Perfect Candidate For An Energy Efficient Mortgage [Photo By Energy Vanguard]](jpg/eem-perfect-candidate-energy-efficient-mortgage.jpg)
Today I visited my friend Perry, who's buying a hundred year old house and wanted some advice on what he could do to improve it. My first thought, of course, was that he should buy the house with an EEM…
Last week in my role as a home energy rating provider, I had to disqualify a home for the ENERGY STAR label. I hated doing it because it was a nice home and, in every way but one, can be…
I've just finished going over the newly released ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines for new homes and, as you might expect, I'm happy about some of the new requirements and disappointed/perplexed about others. Overall, though, the program is moving in the…