Builders are never more surprised than when they walk into one of their newly built model homes and find black stains at wall-to-floor joints and on previously pristine carpeting underneath doorways.  What causes these stains and how can builders and homeowners prevent them?

Encouraged by the European Union (EU) labeling scheme for energy efficient appliances, manufacturers in Europe are bringing out lines of more efficient products that showcase new technologies.  At last year's Domotechnica trade fair in Cologne, Germany, 1,700 companies from 52 countries turned out to strut their stuff. 

"Net metering" allows customers to link their solar or wind generators to the regular utility meter, running the meter backward when the customer generates more energy than the household can use, and forward again when the house needs to draw energy from the grid.  State and federal governements love these programs but actual penetration is limited to a few dozen users in each area. 

Pressure pans are often misused, and the information they provide can mislead the inexperienced.  Bruce Manclark of Delta-T Incorporated and Jeffrey Siegel, formerly of Ecotope Incorporated, in Eugene, Oregon, investigate how mistakes are made, and share their research into one strategy for more accurate pan readings.