This is the place to rant, rave, brag, belly-ache, crack a joke, procrastinate, and delve into the metaphysical aspects of the DIY mindset. We’re off the map, on a tangent, and frequently off topic. This is the stuff we don’t show on TV.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a by-product of human respiration. Each time we exhale, CO2 is released into the atmosphere around us. Currently, CO2 sensors can be used to automatically control ventilation systems in buildings equipped with Building Automation Systems (BAS). This is referred to as Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).
According to the Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components, which was prepared in 2007 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average life expectancy of a washing machine is 10 years. While washing machines are not made to last forever, performing simple maintenance will help to ensure they last as long or longer than expected, and will actually reduce the likelihood that your washing machine will be the cause of significant water damage to your home.
Passive solar is a green concept after my own heart because its principles reduce energy consumption without adding additional cost to a project. Of course, if a building is not originally designed to capture the sun's heat by day, store it, and release it at night, then active technologies must be used to help offset our consumption of natural resources. Thankfully, photovoltaic solar panels are much more effective and, frankly, more useable than they were even 10 years ago.
You can reduce your home's heating and cooling costs through proper insulation and air sealing techniques. These techniques will also make your home more comfortable.
The air tightness of a building can be determined by using several methods. The PFT (PerFluorocarbon tracer gas) technique and blower door test both provide information about air leakage and energy loss.
Energy auditors may use thermography — or infrared scanning — to detect thermal defects and air leakage in building envelopes.
Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home's air tightness.
Professional energy audits generally go into great detail. The energy auditor should do a room-by-room examination of the residence, as well as a thorough examination of past utility bills.
You can easily conduct a home energy audit yourself. With a simple but diligent walk-through, you can spot many problems in any type of house. When auditing your home, keep a checklist of areas you have inspected and problems you found. This list will help you prioritize your energy efficiency upgrades.
A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient. An audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time. During the audit, you can pinpoint where your house is losing energy. Audits also determine the efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems. An audit may also show you ways to conserve hot water and electricity. You can perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough audit.
Energy recovery ventilation systems provide a controlled way of ventilating a home while minimizing energy loss. They reduce the costs of heating ventilated air in the winter by transferring heat from the warm inside air being exhausted to the fresh (but cold) supply air. In the summer, the inside air cools the warmer supply air to reduce ventilation cooling costs.
Balanced ventilation systems, if properly designed and installed, neither pressurize nor depressurize a house. Rather, they introduce and exhaust approximately equal quantities of fresh outside air and polluted inside air, respectively.
