Featured Blog Posts (386)

Reposted from i.e., the Center for Energy and Environment's Innovation Exchange blog -- http://mncee.org/Innovation-Exchange/ie/

Today the National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) and the Community Action Partnership celebrated the one-millionth home weatherized nationwide since April 2009. Partnering with state and local…

While attending the NASCSP conference last week in Atlanta, Georgia, the overall message was: How do we keep the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) relevant in the future? Also, how do we find more funding to keep our programs alive post-ARRA?

Along with a lot of brainstorming and industry conversation happening around the two questions posed above, NASCSP took one of the sessions to tell attendees about their initiatives for…

The Gulyas residence in Bloomington, Indiana was one of the first homes in Indiana to receive LEED for Homes Platinum certification. Through the use of passive house techniques and additional sustainable design strategies this project easily met and surpassed the criteria for LEED.



A home energy metric measuring energy per square foot calculation and spreadsheet was created by Allison Bailes III, PhD, to help effectively measure electric and gas usage in a house.…

Working with my customers and friends that are home performance contractors we always seem to be seeking answers to questions such as:

What will make my business survive in the short term?

What does it mean to run a successful home performance business?  

What can I do if my local utility rebates, tax credits, and programs change?

For the most part it is true that individuals and…

Reposted from i.e., the Center for Energy and Environment's Innovation Exchange blog -- http://mncee.org/Innovation-Exchange/ie/

Center for Energy and Environment research and programs focus on Minnesota buildings and homes, but advances in energy efficiency impact people all over the world. The…

We have a pilot project kicked off here in Portland. Contractors have joined forces to evaluate lead generation resources.

These contractors are going to all pitch in money and try different lead generation services/marketing tools. They will evaluate what works and what doesn't and report back to their peers.

What a fantastic idea. I have a lot of ideas and can't wait to hear what the group has to share.

In Portland we have a unique mix of educated homeowners. Some want…

Months fly by, and it is closer to Fall in New England.  Soon most local Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling companies will be consumed with Fall maintenance programs.  I remember spending countless hours a week dealing with humidifiers, whether it was the old Skuttle drum style, the Aprilaire bypass version, or even the steam models that have actually been improved over the years - particularly Honeywell's Truesteam.  The one…

Reposted from i.e., the Center for Energy and Environment's Innovation Exchange blog -- http://mncee.org/Innovation-Exchange/ie/

"The overall name of these interrelated structures is system. The motorcycle is a system. A real system. ...There's so much talk about the system. And so little understanding. That's all a motorcycle is, a system of concepts…

Those that are interested in a tipping point for residential energy efficiency often look to real estate, and Multiple Listing Services (MLS) as the Holy Grail.

Slowly but surely, one MLS at a time is adding fields for green features.  The last official count in 2010 showed that about 15% of the 850+ independently owned and operated MLS offered at least one green field.  Another 10% were planning to add fields. But anecdotal information since then indicates that some of the planning…

We are starting to roll out heat pump water heaters in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming).  One of the concerns we have in colder climates is the recovery time when the ambient air is cold. The lower the ambient temperature the less effective the heat pump water heater will be in generating hot water causing issues in households with more people, more bathrooms, and in colder months if the heat pump water heater is installed in garages or…

The latest cover (right) of Home Energy features a photo of a man named Scott Willingham. Scott is pictured while working as part of the Veterans Green Jobs program, which trains veterans to work in the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), as well as other green jobs.

That cover photo leads readers to a…

The chart below recently caught my attention (1). It shows the changes in prices over time of residential “utilities,” that is, electricity, natural gas, water and sewage, and telephones. My attention normally goes directly to the familiar energy utilities, electricity and natural gas. But wait! Water and sewage prices—they are typically billed together—have outstripped all others. The prices for water and sewage have been climbing so rapidly that water-related expenditures now exceed those…

Below is a post I published on calculating a home energy use by region using a tool my utility (Georgia Power) provided (made by Apogee).  It's a nice tool to show homeowners if their utility provides something similar.  It could help you validate how improvements to the home can help save energy.

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Everyone is seeking the elusive killer app that will revolutionize energy. Most expect it to be a high tech gadget, or new form of generation or a way to finally store mass quantities of electricity.

Not anthropologist Susan Mazur-Stommen. She’s looking in a completely different place: inside our heads, or more specifically inside the heads of those who live in the Deep South.

Mazur-Stommen, who is the director of behavior and human dimensions for the American Council for an…

Recently my 13 yr old Carrier A/C devolved a leak and I chose to replace the system rather than track down the leak and repair the coil. I had been reading about doing manual J calculations and how contractors are scared to death to undersize. I had been talking to co-workers about this and it's an uphill battle getting them to think different than 1 ton per 500sq ft. So I decided to take confidence in correct sizing and "put my money where my mouth is" and install a 2 ton sized…

Home Energy Pros,

Has anyone used a lead generation service that they have had success with? 

What are your general thoughts about lead generation?

At Mapawatt.com, we think that linking educated consumers with home energy pros is a much needed service.  Of course there is Angie's list, but that is a paid service and I dont think it's that strong in Home Energy services.

Recently the California Energy Commission (CEC) put window film on the fast track to get it into the new building code—to be effective in 2014. As the first state in the nation to place window film in the next building code, California has officially recognized window film as a legitimate, cost-effective energy saver.

This change in thinking is due to recent reports and studies that show just how effective window film, a thin polymer adhered to the inside of glass, is. One such study…