This weekend, Energy 2.0 received a message from Lands’ End specifically targeting everyone shivering their way through winter here in Massachusetts.
You know it’s cold when folks from Wisconsin are sending you winter sympathy messages via email. Beyond how cold it might be outside, the recent patch of artic weather here in Cambridge has resulted in lots of time spent inside for most residents. For Energy 2.0, that also means plenty of time to ponder why the ground floor of the house is always colder than the floors above.
A quick search around the Internet revealed a wealth of information on how most houses–particularly those built before the 1970s–don’t have properly insulated crawlspaces.
So if your bottom floor feels like a skating rink, find out why crawl space vapor… [view entry]
The details of an interesting program to encourage energy efficiency in Utah just crossed our desk here at Energy 2.0.
The Energy Services Efficiency Program… eases the financial burden of making large changes that lower the energy load on the power grid, such as better insulation, more efficient air conditioning systems and improved swimming pool pumps.The rebates could pay more than $500 for improved attic insulation, $350 for a new air conditioning unit and up to $125 for a better swimming pool pump.
Energy 2.0 supports this idea because it achieves two things. It ties the reduction of energy use in each house to specific improvements, and it helps the homeowner make the capital investment in what are becoming tough times for all. Looking at the photo below,… [view entry]
From the Laconia Citizen:
“It was 30 degrees outside but inside a yet-to-be-finished basement of a home being built on Summit Road, the temperature remained above 42 degrees, with no heat.
That’s because the home, which belongs to Cecilia Rai and James Koren of Plymouth, is being built to be energy-efficient from basement to attic.”
Find out more about this couple’s experience in building an energy efficient home in New Hampshire.
Cecilia Rai stands inside her yet to be finished energy efficient house in Laconia, NH.
Note the use of ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms) in the outer walls. This is becoming a popular technique for including insulation in the construction process-particularly as it is independent of material used (stucco, brick, vinyl siding, wood…) for the outer walls.
The concept of ‘Passive Houses’ has been gaining some currency recently. On first glance it doesn’t sound terribly exciting. From this article in the Portland Daily Journal of Commerce, however, you can see that creating a passive house requires homeowners to take a number of active steps towards building or renovating a house that requires very little energy for heating or cooling. Apparently, the benchmark of a passive home is one where less than 15 watts per square foot is used to heat and cool the house during the entire year.
Most of the world's Passive Houses are located in Germany or Scandinavia
If you need more information on Passive Houses. Or as the Germans, who invented the concept, call them (PassivHaus), there’s always Wikipedia.
Insulation, rain runoff, reduced carbon emissions and the heat island effect. Green roofs are certainly good for the environment.
As these photos from a recent Huffington Post contest show, green roofs are pretty easy on the eyes, too.
It started with a small water stain on the dining room ceiling that nagged at Alex Cheimets.
By the time he finished fixing the leak, his house was clad in insulation so thick he needed special 10 inch screws just to attach it to the siding. And the MA State Government had signed on a sponsor for his $100,000 home improvement project.
The Super Insulated House in Arlington, MA has attracted an impressive group of sponsors.
Part of the state’s payoff will come after the work is done. Sensors will measure humidity and help track heat loss. A blower test with a giant fan will see just how tight the home is sealed. An oil tank sensor will track oil use at different indoor and outdoor temperatures.
