Posts Tagged ‘home comfort’

Check your equipment to make sure it’s not oversized. And no, it’s not what you think.

Raise your hand if you know what a home energy audit can do for your comfort, your health, and your wallet.

Find out how much Uncle Sam is willing to pay you for upgrading your home’s insulation, furnace, or windows through the pending Homestar Program. Cha-ching!

When you’re trying to beat the heat, you’ve got to deal with more than just the temperature.

You may never hear about the field of psychrometry, but believe me, you are intimately familiar with its effects. It’s with you in the shower, it’s the reason you sweat, and if you ignore it at home, it will make you very, very sorry.

You’ll have to forgive yesterday’s satiric look at the government’s new “Homestar” program.  I just couldn’t resist the name association. The press release was fake, but the frustration was real: Why do we need further incentive to do the things that already have a financial benefit? My suspicion is that the average American homeowner lacks [...]

On Tuesday, President Obama announced his plans to make Homestar Runner, that lovable armless marshmallow from internet cartoons, the United States’ new Energy Efficiency Czar. As part of his jobs agenda, the President outlined the potential for energy efficiency improvements, like insulation and window retrofits, to put furloughed construction workers back to work.  He emphasized [...]

Those ancient Egyptians were really on to something when the built the pyramids.  The broad base and pointy top really helps us understand that there are some things common and fundamental, and others that are a little more rare.  Brilliant! Today’s pyramidal subject is energy conservation. Have you ever wondered whether you’re better off insulating [...]

It’s an age old dilemma for efficiency advocates: how do you calculate how much energy you didn’t use or how much money you didn’t spend? You can’t put a yardstick up against something that doesn’t exist. We tend to rely on models and predictions of what might have happened, and calculate the savings based on [...]

Why does flu season tend to occur in the winter?  You may want to ask your guinea pig. Your mother always told you that you’d “catch your death of cold” if you went outside without a hat, but science has come to the rescue.  Some old and new research suggests that it’s the dry winter [...]