Home Energy articles from November 2004

Home Energy archives from November 2004

What's next in energy efficiency?(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... Over 600 people involved in all aspects of energy efficiency in buildings recently met for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. This was the eighth conference on energy...

Correct Spanish content.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Our company, SpanishTech, provides bilingual marketing and technology integration for the Hispanic market. (Our Web site is www.spanishtech.com.) We were working on the translation of a school district bond and fund appropriation, and we ran...

More duct sealing or new furnace?(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I moved last year into an 18-year-old, two-story town house (2000 [ft.sup.2]). The original furnace is a 2.5-ton gas fired unit with an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 62%, rated two years ago. The house has an electric central air...

Which way does the fan blow?(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I have searched everywhere for which way the fan blades turn for downdraft and which way for updraft. No luck. I found several articles that recommend one way for winter and the opposite way for summer but not which is which. I have two...

Depends on what zero means.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... What are "zero-energy homes"? When I first heard this term a couple of months ago, I thought it referred to a home that produced as much energy as it used. At the time, I was building a home and wanted to see if it could be classified as a net...

Foil bubble pack: subslab insulation?(Insulation)
November 1, 2004... This spring, my neighbor poured a slab for an addition over "R-10" bubble pack. He was taken aback when I told him that the claimed insulating value of this product was open to question. Advertisements and Internet sites have quoted values as...

IECC: easier to use and enforce.(Codes)(International Energy Conservation Code)
November 1, 2004... The International Codes Council (ICC) recently approved sweeping changes to the residential chapters of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), the national model code that is the basis for many state energy codes. The revised...

Building big and green.(Green Building)(The Solaire)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Solaire at 20 River Terrace, a multifamily building located in the Battery Park neighborhood, is New York's first green residential skyscraper. Related at LEED 2 Gold Level, it is the first building designed in accordance with the year 2000...

Habitat for humanity gets a green makeover.(Green Building)
November 1, 2004... From Seattle, Washington, to Westchester, New York, low-income housing is turning a shade greener. Since 1992, the program known for building homes for low-income families, Habitat for Humanity, has started to build with an emphasis on...

Improving attic thermal performance: with metal roofing systems becoming more popular for new construction and retrofits, the Florida Solar Energy Center wanted to learn more about these roofing systems and their effect on thermal performance.(Attics)
November 1, 2004... For homes in hot climates, roofing systems and attic thermal performance have a heavy impact on cooling energy use. Using insulation to control the heat flux from the attic into conditioned spaces through the ceiling is a known way to increase...

What's up with duct tape? New tests for duct tape include testing the strapping that holds duct connections together and testing the longevity of duct sealants.(HVAC)
November 1, 2004... It's been a couple of years since we last wrote about duct tape in the pages of Home Energy, and it is time to revisit this ever-popular subject. When last we left duct sealant durability issues, the Energy Performance of Buildings Group at...

Making a 20-year-old house work: moving into an older home is often accompanied by unhappy surprises affecting energy use and comfort. The solution requires dealing creatively with a number of details.(Renovation)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... Almost five years ago, my wife, Wyncia, and I decided to move from Syracuse, New York, to Boulder. Colorado. Wyncia spent a December week with a very patient real estate agent searching for a home. She looked at dozens, e-mailing back pictures...

The evolution of green building: LEED for Homes is just around the corner. Will it fulfill its mission to integrate with existing green building programs while helping out in locations where no such program exists?(Green Building)
November 1, 2004... How is the effort to create a national green building program progressing? According to Dennis Creech, executive director of the Southface Energy Institute, in Atlanta, Georgia, pretty well. Creech is a member of a committee that was formed by...

Integrated pest management in the home: reducing the populations of cockroaches, mice, and rats by using the right pest control method can reduce the concentration of allergens in the home, delivering real health benefits to homeowners and renters.(Pests)
November 1, 2004... Cockroaches. Mice. Rats. These are just three of the pests that can invade a home or apartment. Homeowners and renters detest them because they're messy, leaving behind droppings, fur, and other shed body parts. They eat and contaminate our...

The right way is right.(Field Notes)(Comfort Diagnostics and Solutions)
November 1, 2004... Joe Kuonen, president of Comfort Diagnostics and Solutions in Sherwood, Arkansas, didn't want to be a contractor anymore. He wanted to be an energy guru. That's why he abandoned his career as a remodeling contractor who specialized in the...

A whirlwind startup.(Field Notes)(Practically Free Energy)
November 1, 2004... Starting a new business isn't usually a cakewalk, but some needs just cry out to be filled. In 2002 Mike Woodson was a telecommunications engineer in Ridgeland, Mississippi, who was facing a probable layoff. He was having lunch with a friend...

Housing authority saves with CFLs.(New and Notable)(Newark Housing Authority)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... As part of the Rebuild America program, the Newark Housing Authority has recently replaced incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient CFLs in 6,000 of the 7,600 low-income housing units it oversees. The replacement was spurred by the...

The light stuff: CLTC.(New and Notable)(California Lighting Technology Center)
November 1, 2004... The California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC), part of the University of California, Davis, has been created with the mission of developing energy-efficient lighting with market-friendly design. Technology demonstrations, development,...

Calendar.(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... November 10-12 USGBC International Conference and Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Contact: US. Green Building Council, 1015 18th St. NW, Ste. 805, Washington, D.C., 20036. Tel: (202)828-7422; Fax: (202)828-5110; E-mail:...