All Blog Posts (718)

Building Efficiency Resources is offering Energy Star v3 training online and in 2-hour sessions that are presented outside regular working hours. This approach saves travel expenses, preserves your work day, and allows you to absorb the material in manageable segments.…

Over the past couple of years I have attended many seminars mostly on topics relating to green building and the environment. In truth, I was determined to make good use of the construction down time, in this economy, with a goal to learning as much as I could about home performance improvement. One such seminar taught me that the terms sustainable building and green construction have become more than simple buzz words, they have become policies promoted by the government. Policies which at…

I don't want to seem self-serving AND I do want folks to know about the blog that Fluke sponsors. I'm one of the prime authors (yes, The Snell Group is still 100% independent of sales!) and spend a good deal of time crafting what I think is a pretty good blog, all related to thermography and much of it related to building thermography. Michael Stuart, who created the Home Energy Pros Infrared Thermography Users group, also chimes in weekly with his "what is it?" images, all good fun and a…

It was hard to get excited about IBM’s Watson besting two humans in the TV game show Jeopardy and walking away with a $1 million prize last month. After all, thanks to the entertainment industry, we’ve seen robots and computers win in all kinds of ways, from HAL duping the smart astronauts in 2001: A Space Odyssey to R2D2 disabling the Death Star. What’s the big deal about racking up some trivia…

I’m just back from the RESNET national conference in Orlando and I am very excited to report that RESNET certification is now available!

What’s needed?

• You must be a RESNET Building Performance Auditor or a Rater

• You must have 3 months experience using thermal imaging and a blower door

• You must have taken a training course that complies with the standards of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT)

If you have these…

The push for energy efficiency has clearly become worldwide, creating new prospects for US green energy companies to pursue export and foreign partnerships.

One such opportunity comes from Israel, with the help of the United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), a Washington-based non-profit organization.

Israel is not a country we hear much about in terms of energy opportunity. China, India, North America, South Korea, Japan – these countries tend to steal…

So are you curious about what is going to be covered in this class for Raters? This blog post was pulled from my original article done back in February. This class was taught by Allison A Bailes III of Energy Vanguard, and was tweeted live with the hash tag –…

So are you curious about what is going to be covered in this class for Raters? This blog post was pulled from my original article done back in February. This class was taught by Allison A Bailes III of Energy Vanguard, and was tweeted live with the hash tag –…

CHEERS and The CEC

While I feel this will fall on deaf ears I felt it worth a try. I am (or was) a HERS Rater here in California. The CEC and CHEERS have “locked” many of us raters out of conducting business here in California. I have personally passed on jobs due to this squabble.

This lockout began in early October. It was thought that this would be resolved quickly. After a five month moratorium this obviously is not the case. As far as I know the problem is data…

A 448-kilowatt commercial solar system was powered up last Tuesday at the San Bernardino Corporate Center near Mill Street and Toppecanoe Avenue. The project came out of a partnership of the Novato-based SPG Solar Inc., the nonprofit for Sustainable Communities Reinvestment Partnership, known as SCRIP Inc, and the Inland Valley Development Agency (IVDA), the regional joint powers authority overseeing redevelopment in and around the former Norton Air Force Base.



The commercial…

Before energy became a hot topic, no one cared about the electric meter.  It was the box on the house we all ignored except the guy from the utility who dodged the barking dogs to take a reading from it once in awhile.

It is a sign of our times that this box now inspires enough emotion for people to take to the streets. Protesters gathered outside the California Public Utilities Commission last week claiming that new metering technology not only makes people sick, but also violates…

Anyone attending the RESNET conference in Orlando next week and who are currently providing IR inspections as either a BPI or HERS Rater inspector, might want to sit in on the presentation of the new IR Standard Interium Guidlines currently being approved. Rogge Miller from GWSSI, John Snell from Snell Group and myself will be going over the IR portion of the Chapter 8 Performance Testing and are hoping for some solid discussions and feedback from those interested in how this is going to…

A buddy of mine, Dennis, that’s an exterminator called me the other day while I was standing in Home Depot.  “Jon, I’ve got a problem and I need some of your building science expertise.” The problem he was having was being caused by some granules he had put down to repel some flying squirrels.  The granules…

A weatherization program in South Carolina that has made area homes more energy efficient could impact the local economy for decades to come. The Orangeburg-Calhoun-Allendale-Bamberg Community Action Agency program is funded by federal stimulus dollars and has improved 179 houses for low- to moderate-income homeowners over the past year.

The work has cut utility bills and made older homes energy efficient. OCAB Community Action Agency Executive Director Calvin Wright says 12…

     Here's a real harbinger of spring in Syracuse:

 …