October 2011 Blog Posts (31)

by Don Ames,   www.detectenergy.com

At the beginning of a home energy audit, I make it a habit to ask the homeowner if I can see their…

There's one thing that keeps me from my favorite fast-food indulgence, the Junior Whopper with Cheese.  It's called the Happy Meal.  My kids insist on them.  And our meals are indeed happier if I forgo my trip to Burger King so we can snag Happy Meals at McDonald's instead.

How does this relate to Home Performance?

A big focus among home performance professionals at the moment is driving demand.  To do that…

Das Haus is a traveling pavilion, a North American tour and an ongoing international dialogue about advanced technologies for home construction and solar energy use. The purpose – to share German innovations that have achieved sustainable construction and operational energy…

My Dad and I have a running joke when we’re in the car together. “Look,” he’ll say. “Gas is cheap. It’s down to $3.39.” Cheap, he means, compared with the month before when it was $3.79 per gallon.

The joke illustrates a good point. A few years ago we were flabbergasted by gasoline prices that exceeded $3 per gallon. Now we’re really happy when it doesn’t hit $4 per gallon.

When it comes to energy, we’re like frogs in water coming to a slow boil. We’ve gotten so accustomed to…

I love to hear from homeowners on the internet, although it's not always a homeowner from a publication that had work done on the subject of their publication. I always learn something about the homeowners expectations, grievances and the message they want to send about the company. People who share ideas are genius, people who share accomplishments are smart, and people who talk about people are ignorant.

Because this is relatively a new field for a lot of people I'm prone to remind…

If a double pane window is better than a single pane window, should I use triple pane windows?

By Don Ames,  www.detectenergy.com

Should I be using triple pane windows for my retrofit project? 

If a double pane window is better than a single pane window, should I use triple pane windows?

By Don Ames,  www.detectenergy.com…

First I talk of safety. I mention old furnaces and CO possibilities, etc. This will usually make them sour up a bit because it is slightly a sales pitch.

GGEC Co-Founder Adam Duke spoke this past weekend at the Midwest Power Shift 2011 conference in Cleveland, OH. He was featured on a panel discussing Energy Efficiency as the Building Base of the Green Economy. (The image below is taken from the event’s program.) 

“It was really great,” says Duke, “there were a ton of extremely passionate students from all over the country. By sharing my story and insights, I was hopefully able to convey that it’s possible to pursue their passions…

Household Energy Consumption and Successful Energy Education

by Don Ames,  www.detectenergy.com

Two homes…

In recent conversations with customers and peers about reducing energy loss in buildings & structures and how heat and cold are transferred into a building via conduction, I explained and made reference to using a metal cooking utensil to stir a pot of chili.

 …

We hear a lot about the upcoming democratization of energy.  But with the average consumer thinking about energy only six minutes per year, it’s fair to wonder if anyone will show up to ‘vote.’

But this week an alliance that includes the intriguing combination…

Working at Home Energy would seem to have prepared me for having an energy efficiency retrofit done on my own home, at least to ask all the right questions.  But Murphy’s Law intruded nevertheless, and you may learn from my experience.  We live in the SF Bay Area in a 970-sq ft wood-framed stucco single-family home on one floor over a basement and garage, no air conditioning, with central heat.  Our goal for the audit was to improve comfort, as hot days were hotter inside the house,…

Energy Auditors: A Professional on a Mission to Save Energy

by Don Ames,   www.detectenergy.com,  

Hopefully, most people that become Doctors, want to be Doctors. If someone is going to go digging around in my belly, I want them to enjoy what they're doing and not wish they were out leading a group of fisherman on a flounder trip.

I feel the same way about Energy Auditors, anyone that is going to test my…

“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  Teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

-Chinese proverb

Let’s say you own a waterfront business that invests the time and resources to teach that man or woman to fish.  You routinely offer “Fishing 101” classes.  Your…

COST, as affected by real property (land & structures): Cost of land and assembling a structure as an improvement to the land. The cost of the structure is the purchase of land, planning, estimating, managing, labor and profit of the materials assembled or installed for the production of a building on improving the site. Cost is materials or unit value and the business/investment process of completing the structure or improvement on site for a…

Energy Retrofits and Priorities for Energy Efficiency

by Don Ames,   www.detectenergy.com

Nothing worse than saving…