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My two sisters-in-law have been in town the past few days,and one of them needs to get an energy audit for the home she and her husband recently bought in Seattle. I gave her a recommendation for a company to do the audit (from a couple of friends who used to live there),and now she’s asking the very reasonable question,“What should I be looking for? What should they do when they come to the house?” Continue reading How to Choose a Company to Do a Home Energy Audit I wrote about energy conservation versus energy efficiency last year and showed how things had stayed pretty level over the past three decades as we’ve spent our efficiency dividend on bigger houses and more electronics. Still,I had trouble believing we were actually using less energy per person than we did in 1970. Continue reading News Flash:Americans Use Less Energy When It Costs More Science is science. Anyone who works on buildings is free to ignore the principles of building science to the extent that they can get away with it,but someone’s going to pay the price. Maybe it’ll be the occupants,who suffer with comfort problems,poor indoor air quality,frequent maintenance,or high energy bills. Maybe it’ll be the remodeler or builder who has to face constant callbacks. That’s the point I was trying to make with my article on can lights. To the extent that program guidelines or building codes allow can lights,a remodeler or builder can use them. If they’re part of the building envelope,however,and create a problem with the air barrier or insulation,the contractor is giving their client an inferior product. That’s just building science. Continue reading Are Freedom and Building Science Incompatible? April 18th,2011 | Tags:Building Science,Green Education | Category:Building Green,Customer Service,Government,Stimulus,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | We keep hearing that China is going to become a really big deal in world energy markets. But it wasn’t until I read this statement by Jane Henley,CEO of the World Green Building Council,that I grasped the scope of its coming influence: Continue reading Time to Export Energy Efficiency? December 9th,2010 | Tags:China,Department of Energy,Export | Category:Government,Stimulus,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | For a long time the energy efficiency industry operated largely under the two-guys-and-a-truck-model:local businesses made up of small contractors. Then the ‘super’ energy efficiency service companies (ESCOs) emerged,big operations taking on big contracts often for government,schools or hospitals,like the $35 million deal that Pepco Energy Services signed with the Prince George’s County Maryland Public Schools this week. Continue reading Export opportunity for US energy efficiency? Home Star is a legislative proposal designed to create jobs by providing incentives for residential energy efficiency improvements. The program will drive new private investment into the hard hit construction and manufacturing sectors,while saving consumers money on their energy bills. By building on state programs and existing industry capacity for the retrofits themselves as well as quality assurance,the program will be fast‐acting,in addition to increasing consumer awareness of residential energy efficiency. Continue reading How Has Senate Changed HOME STAR? A SHORT SUMMARY June 2nd,2010 | Tags:Efficient energy use,energy,energy star,Home Star,Silver Star | Category:Government,Green Living,mississippi,Stimulus,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green | Leave a comment | After nearly two weeks of intense competition,Mississippi State University (MSU) claimed top honors on May 27 in the second year of the EcoCAR competition,a three-year automotive engineering competition sponsored by DOE and General Motors Corporation (GM). Officially dubbed “EcoCAR:The NeXt Challenge,”the competition invited university engineering students from across North America to re-engineer a GM-donated sport utility vehicle to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. Continue reading Mississippi State University Wins Year Two of the EcoCAR Competition June 2nd,2010 | Category:Government,mississippi,Sustainability,Tax Incentives,Thinking Green,Transportation | One comment | The energy world operates under the premise that more is better. If we build more power plants,we’ll have ample supply,and electricity prices will drop. Even better,if those plants are clean and green,we’ll displace older,dirtier plants and reduce emissions. That will help our economy by producing Continue reading Are we thinking about energy all wrong? May 30th,2010 | Tags:Economy of the United States,energy,Technology | Category:energy,Government,Stimulus | Leave a comment | It’s likely that you’ve heard of EnergyStar and seen the recent headlines about US Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency efforts to ensure that appliances are as energy efficient as the blue EnergyStar label indicates. It’s less likely that you’ve heard of a parallel DOE effort to ensure that minimum energy conservation standards are being met. Because mandatory efficiency standards apply to the manufacture of appliances and therefore are Continue reading There’s a new sheriff in town We’ve been hearing a lot about a drop in energy consumption as a result of the economic downturn. In fact,US energy use per person declined last year to its lowest level since 1968. Economic activity and energy use are directly linked. But lately,several reports have noted that the economic slowdown is not the only reason energy consumption is falling. Aggressive energy efficiency efforts also have Continue reading Energy use drops:It’s not just the economy… |  Trades Topics Place Type
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