Home Energy articles from May 2003

Home Energy archives from May 2003

Saving electricity in a hurry.(preventing power outages)(Editorial)
May 1, 2003... Was the electricity crisis in California a fluke, that "perfect storm" confluence of rare events? Lots of people would like to think so, yet the global situation points to an entirely different conclusion: Shortfalls in electricity supply...

Condensation in Duct board. (Letters).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I live in Pennsylvania and own a new 2,700 [ft.sup.2] ranch home, with a hot water baseboard heating system and a separate A/C system. The air handling unit is in the attic. Duct board is used for the ducts. The diffuser units are in the...

Security blankets? (Letters).(water heater blanket)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... One of the items in my Green Team book recommends having a water heater blanket. My friend indicated that they aren't recommended any more if your heater is less than three years old. Which piece of advice is true? Janice Dau Lone Tree,...

Get rid of it. (Letters).(eliminate vapor barrier)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I live in a condo in Columbus, Ohio, and am having a problem with our master bathroom shower. We developed mold behind the tile, which essentially ate through the gypsum wallboard. Upon having the mold properly remediated, we noticed that...

Errata.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2003... An incorrect telephone number appeared at the end of Gregory Thomas's "Keeping Score" article (HE Mar/Apr '03, p. 18). His correct phone number at Performance Systems Development, Incorporated, is (607) 277-6240, ext. 201. A contributor's...

Relearning what was known. (Performance).
May 1, 2003... In 1976, Gautum Dutt, Jan Beyea, and others at Princeton University found that the heat losses from insulated attics at townhouses in Twin Rivers, New Jersey, were nine times what they should have been based on an engineering analysis. While...

Add REScheck to your toolkit. (Software).(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 1, 2003... When the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) put the finishing touches on its new version of the residential plan-checking energy tool REScheck for Windows, it provided a nicely tuned-up new implementation of the familiar MECcheck software....

The carpet industry nudges toward green. (Green Building).
May 1, 2003... Carpets play a critical role in making homes more comfortable by warming up cold floors and reducing sound transfer between floors. Without carpets, unheated concrete slabs and strutting around barefoot in the winter would be intolerable. ...

Saving resources with green construction. (Green Building).
May 1, 2003... A new green building certification program aims to train contractors and then market their new skills to homeowners. Many members of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI)--composed...

Green heat across an ocean. (HVAC).(energy-efficient boilers, gas furnaces)
May 1, 2003... The Financial Times of London reported in January that in 2002, 150,000 new energy-efficient condensing boilers were sold in the United Kingdom (UK). Only about half that many condensing boilers were sold in 2001. Finance and marketing types...

Radiant barriers: depends on where you live. (Insulation).
May 1, 2003... Houses gain a lot of energy through their roofs. Studies have shown that, in the summer, 70%-90% of ceiling heat gain normally occurs through radiation from solar-heated roof surfaces. Radiant barriers--usually thin aluminum sheets at least one...

Appliance use differs around United States. (Appliance).(Illustration)
May 1, 2003... Regional trends in appliance use are evident in new reports from DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA), published in January. The EIA's appliance reports are statistical analyses in which long-term trends in the use of A/C units and...

Experiential learning: students in Arizona get credit, and valuable experience, designing and building a house. (Training).(Yavapai College Construction Technology program)
May 1, 2003... While construction technology is advancing rapidly, the way houses are being built today is changing at a moderate pace. The design and construction of buildings has become much more complex over the past 50 years, with the introduction of...

Lead-safe weatherization: with a little inventiveness and a little help from their friends, a weatherization agency in Denver has learned to provide energy efficiency measures--sawing a lot of holes in walls painted with lead paint--without endangering the lives of its workers. (Weatherization).(Sun Power)
May 1, 2003... Housing in Denver, Colorado, like housing in most large cities, is a mix of leaded and lead-free homes. The good news is that there was less lead used here in the West than in the East--15% of homes contaminated in the West, compared to 40% in...

Taking the pain out of testing: tackling the defrost cycle dilemma makes metering a practical tool to use when choosing which refrigerators to replace. (Appliances).
May 1, 2003... Nearly two years ago, Michigan's Weatherization Assistance program undertook a concerted effort to develop procedures to monitor, identify, and replace refrigerators. Because each of our Weatherization clients gets only one retrofit...

Laying the foundation: a combination of unexpected events and prior planning sent the CFL market soaring in 2001. (A Ready Market for CFLs).(compact fluorescent lamp)
May 1, 2003... It has been 23 years since the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) was first introduced. Over its first two decades of sales, the CFL made only modest incursions into the residential marketplace thoroughly dominated by a century-old lamp design--the...

CFL programs that work: the best delivery mechanisms achieve the program objectives while minimizing costs and maximizing energy savings. (Market Transformation).
May 1, 2003... In 2001, an unprecedented effort was undertaken in California to deliver energy-saving measures to residents. In response to the energy crisis, utilities and other organizations developed large-scale CFL programs to reduce energy consumption...

Gulf Coast syndrome. (Field Notes).(controlling moisture)
May 1, 2003... When it comes to moisture problems in residential buildings, it isn`t always the heat that matters, as much as the humidity. My company, French Engineering, investigated two air-conditioned residential buildings--located along the generally hot...

New Fenestration labels show the light. (New and Notable).(National Fenestration Rating Council standards)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Since its inception in 1989, the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) has developed industry standards and administered a label program--which effectively communicates energy ratings--for millions of windows, doors, skylights, and...

Renewable Energy Policy Project. (New and Notable).(discussion groups)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The Renewable Energy Policy Project hosts discussion groups on a range of renewable energy and energy efficiency topics, including bioenergy, green building, and sources of green and renewable energy. The bioenergy discussion groups include the...

Green power gaining. (New and Notable).(utility-sponsored programs)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its annual ranking of utility-sponsored green power programs in February, noting that more than 300 utilities in 32 states now offer such programs. To date, more than 425 MW of...

New fixtures save water. (New and Notable).(TOTO USA)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... TOTO USA has introduced a toilet using new G-Max technology, which excelled in flush performance and water saving in the recent Water Closet Performance Testing report released by the Seattle Public Utilities and East Bay Municipal Utility...

The latest from ASHRAE. (New and Notable).(American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has two online news publications about HVAC and refrigeration: the weekly HVAC&R Industry electronic newsletter and the monthly ASHRAE Online Journal. The...

New training for mold remediation. (New and Notable).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The National Association of Mold Professionals (NAMP), a new certifying organization, offers two-day comprehensive mold inspection and remediation certification classes. The course is held once a month in Detroit, Michigan. Training is also...

Solar Giant offers total home package. (New and Notable).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... In California, BP Solar has begun marketing complete, customized solar-electricity systems with a long-term panel warranty. The firm offers a solar savings estimator on its Web site, www.bpsolar.com, allowing homeowners to calculate their...

Calendar.(Calendar)
May 1, 2003... April 30-May 2 EnvironDesign7 Conference, Washington, D.C. Contact: Jenny Burgess, Interiors & Sources, 840 U.S. Hwy. I, Ste. 330, North Palm Beach, FL 33408. Tel: (561)627-3393; Fax: (561)694-6578; E-mail: jburgess@lcclark.com;Web site:...