Home Energy articles from March 2003

Home Energy archives from March 2003

Home energy meets the world. (Editorial).(Editorial)
March 1, 2003... I can still recall clearly New Year's Eve 20 years ago when I received an express mail letter from California informing me that I had been hired to help start up a magazine on energy conservation. At the time, I was pursuing my master's degree...

Safe and efficient. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2003... I have a question regarding compact fluorescent lights and have been trying to find an answer, and hope that you might be able to help me. I have a totally enclosed kitchen light fixture that is rated for a maximum of three 60-watt incandescent...

Dripping fans. (Letters).
March 1, 2003... For the first time since I became an apartment manager, I have two bathroom fans (upper units, right next to each other) that are leaking. There are no visible leaks from the roof--the water seems to be over-filling in the trough and dripping...

Erratum.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2003... Poetic license was taken with the caption for the cover photo of the January/February 2003 issue. The photo, which was taken by Brad Albert of Sun First!, was actually shot in the afternoon.

You're invited! (Letters).
March 1, 2003... Come celebrate Home Energy magazine's twentieth anniversary on Tuesday, April 1, 6-7 pm at the 2003 Affordable Comfort Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. See p. 30 for conference information.

Home performance with Energy Star Programs.
March 1, 2003... The EPA reported that 37,000 homes earned the Energy Star label in the first three quarters of 2002. When all the statistics are in, the total number of Energy Star homes should exceed 50,000 for last year, and 100,000 for the program since...

The Green House shows the way. .
March 1, 2003... The retrofit of existing homes for energy performance is a complicated issue--for building professionals and homeowners alike. In an effort to translate lessons learned in new construction to retrofit projects, Integrated Building and...

Training in the Canadian Arctic: those who are charged with enforcing building performance standards in Canada newest territory have miles to go before they begin.
March 1, 2003... At about 6 pm on November 26, 2002, I log onto the Internet and check the weather conditions in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada. Current temperature: -18[degrees]F. The sun rose at 8:27 am, and set at 2:13 pm. Oh, the low tonight will be...

Keeping score: a package of software tools is designed to make routine measurement of actual energy savings cost-effective for home performance contractors. .
March 1, 2003... More than 76 million residential buildings and nearly 5 million commercial buildings together use one-third of all the energy consumed in the United States, and two-thirds of all the electricity. The demand that these buildings place on...

A New York success story: value engineering allows a development of 30 affordable three-family homes to meet Energy Star standards. .
March 1, 2003... Typically, affordable housing in New York City is built to be affordable only in terms of the first cost, making maintenance and energy costs a burden to first-time home buyers, cooperators, and not-for-profit organizations that own or manage...

Multifamily [houses]: to rate or not? .
March 1, 2003... With Energy Star's strong commercial buildings program, nationwide single family new construction effort, and its existing housing initiatives, it only seems fair to ask: Are multifamily buildings falling through the cracks? No, says EPA's...

Multifamily benchmark: a fuel study provides benchmarking information for multifamily buildings. .
March 1, 2003... Benchmarking--comparing the energy use of a building to that of similar buildings--can be a helpful first step in any energy audit. However, for multifamily buildings, that kind of data is hard to find. Recently, Steven Winter Associates (SWA)...

New construction report card, part II: complex building designs make even the best-laid plans for home performance hard to fulfill. .
March 1, 2003... Building a house that is energy efficient, healthy, and comfortable is quite challenging (otherwise, Home Energy wouldn't exist). House designs and building technologies are growing in complexity, increasing the difficulty of successfully...

Keep it simple and sunny. .(energy-efficient building designs)
March 1, 2003... During the hot Alabama summers, dogs lie in the shade on the cool earth beneath porches. On cold days, they seek a sunny spot. These simple solutions for staying comfortable are easy to incorporate into the design of homes. When combined...

Energy revolution. (New and Notable).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... A meticulously researched book, Energy Revolution: Policies for a Sustainable Future, has been written by Howard Geller, director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project and former director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient...

Good, better, best. .(Energy-saving building technologies.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Energy-saving building technologies are gaining favor in the construction industry. One sign of this growing acceptance is the Best Practice Sustainability Awards, presented by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC). The 2002 awards,...

Powering the South. (New and Notable).(energy policy)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Powering the South, an initiative of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, promotes electricity conservation and clean-power technologies in six southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The...

New DOE solar site. (New and Notable).(Dept. of Energy's Photovoltaics for Buildings web site)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Anyone wishing to add solar power to a building might want to visit the redesigned Photovoltaics for Buildings Web site, created by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The site provides information on using solar power in homes and...

Calendar.(conferences on residential energy issues)(Calendar)
March 1, 2003... February 28-March 1, 2003 Better Building/Products Source Exposition, Son Antonio, Texas. Contact: Solar San Antonio, Incorporated, 118 Broadway, Ste. 635, San Antonio, TX 78205. Tel: (210)212-8031; Web site: www.solarsanantonio.org....