Category Archives: Energy Audit

The Foundation of your Home: Slabs, Basements, and Crawl Spaces

What is under your home?  I hope you have some solid ground.  If you do great!  Now how did your home builder get to solid ground? The first of a multi-part topic. Left: Slab on Grade ready for walls. (courtesy … Continue reading

Posted in Air Sealing, Crawl Space, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Fiberglass Batt, Foundation, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Infared Pictures, Insulation, IR Pictures, R-Value, Thermographic Imaging | Leave a comment

The Conversation Continues!

My last posting as part of the ongoing Deep Energy Retrofit #DER conversation regarded a definition of DER.  I made the argument for using a threshold of 30% savings. The specific conversation is in regard to historic homes. There have … Continue reading

Posted in DER, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Financing, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Things I See, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Thinking About Adding a Solar Panel to your Home?

Last weekend, I spent some time at the Wichita Area Builders Association Home Show at Century II.  I had been invited by Nick King of King’s Solar Wind Plumbing to help out and answer questions about Home Energy Audits.  I … Continue reading

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Posted in Comfort, Energy Audit, Energy Efficiency News, Energy Use, Equipment Size, Green, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Industry Best Practices, Infiltration, Insulation, Solar | Leave a comment

Common Approaches to Heating Your Home: Part III

This is Part III of a 3 part Series.  Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here. Hybrid Heat Pump This choice is sometimes referred to as a Dual Fuel Heat Pump. It utilized both gas and electricity to heat … Continue reading

Posted in Air Conditioning, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Equipment Size, Furnace, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Insulation, Saving Money, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Common Approaches to Heating and Cooling Your Home: Part II

The Traditional Furnace and Air Conditioner Approach Part I of this article can be found here. The traditional furnace burns fossil fuel, either electricity or gas to create heat. The air conditioner is a one way heat pump. Air conditioners … Continue reading

Posted in AFUE, Air Conditioning, Air Conditioning Tips, Computer Modeling For Energy Use, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Green, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Industry Best Practices, Saving Money, Things I See | 1 Comment

I’ll Give You the Title to my Car for Some Heat!

It is cold here is Maine, there is snow on the ground and more is coming. My house is old and fuel oil is high.  I’ve had two loads this winter and my tank is dry. I’m using the oven … Continue reading

Posted in Air Sealing, Comfort, Diversity, Energy Audit, Energy Efficiency News, Energy Use, Helping Others, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Industry Best Practices, Infiltration, Insulation, Maine, Saving Money | Leave a comment

The Energy Triangle

I attended a 3 Day Preservation, Sustainability and Energy Conference and Fair held last week in Wichita. Sponsored by Green Wichita .  It was interesting, I met a lot of neat people and got the inspiration for this blog entry. I … Continue reading

Posted in Air Sealing, Comfort, Energy Audit, Energy Efficiency News, Energy Use, Financing, Green, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Infiltration, Insulation, Saving Money | Leave a comment

What Is That on The Soffit? How Do I Get Rid of It?

What is that stuff on the house. It has the appearance is a discolored powder that appears on horizontal surfaces such as soffits or vertical surfaces such as siding, especially near a soffit. You can rub it with your finger … Continue reading

Posted in Air Sealing, Attic, Comfort, Energy Audit, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Industry Best Practices, Infiltration, Insulation, Saving Money, Things I See | 1 Comment

My Nest Labs Thermostat – Week 1 Ends

   Last Saturday, I installed my new Nest Thermostat. You can read how that went   at http://bit.ly/yNhq3x .  It is billed as a “Learning Thermostat’, so I promised to let you know how the first week went. Saturday and … Continue reading

Posted in Air Conditioning, Comfort, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Furnace, Girl Scout Cookies, Green Fashion, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Home Retrofit, Nest Thermostat, Saving Money, Thermostat, Thermostat Setbacks | Leave a comment

How does an Energy Auditor Shed Stress at the end of an Audit?

You’ve been in the attic, the crawl spaces or basement, climbed up and down any stairs several times. The have been some questions from the home owner and perhaps from the kids in the house. If you are like me, … Continue reading

Posted in Air Sealing, Comfort, Computer Modeling For Energy Use, Energy Audit, Energy Use, Home Improvement, Home Performance, Industry Best Practices, Infiltration, Ventilation | Tagged , | Leave a comment