Spotlight Article:
When Above Average Is Not Good Enough
Let’s imagine two neighboring families on a residential block—the Joneses and the Smiths. Their homes are of comparable size and age, and both are families of four, living typical middle-class lifestyles. ...
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Code Compliance at 52 Percent in California
Only 52% of new homes complied with California's Title-24 energy code requirements in a field audit of 96 houses built in 1993. [continue reading]
Measuring the Performance of the National Energy Audit
In 1978, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published Project Retro-Tech to provide all states a manual technique for identifying low-income weatherization measures that would produce the most energy savings per dollar spent. [continue reading]
ANNALS OF ENERGY AUDITING: Suicide in Sendai
During one of Professor Hiroshi Yoshino's visits, we went out to dinner at Cafe Venezia. The restaurant was crowded but the pasta was tasty (even though I knew that he would have preferred his native Japanese cuisine). As usual, I was talking too much--we were sharing a large carafe of wine--and so the discussion drifted to the subject of being an expert witness at a trial. [continue reading]
Combustion Safety Checks: How Not to Kill Your Clients
Heating contractors, inspectors, and energy auditors all have different approaches to inspecting combustion appliances. Combustion problems come in various sizes and shapes, and individual tests may not by themselves prove if the house is actually safe. [continue reading]
Where Water-Heating Energy Really Goes
Water heating--which accounts for about 16% of U.S. residential energy consumption--is one of the most complex end uses to evaluate, both individually and nationally. [continue reading]
Annals of Energy Auditing: The Case of the Refrigerator with Rounded Corners
My telephone doesn't ring that often. Face it, people just don't need the services of an expert on energy use of refrigerators every day or every week, for that matter. [continue reading]
User-Friendly Pressure Diagnostics
Using pressure measurements to find and quantify air leakage in houses has been a hot topic over the past two years. Packed sessions at recent conferences are testimony to the intense interest these techniques are generating in the weatherization community. [continue reading]
Computerized Energy Audits
Weatherization agencies have complained for years about a U.S. Department of Energy requirement that 40% of Low-Income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) funds be spent on "materials" rather than labor. [continue reading]
Building Performance Journal Editors
Our Blog Has Moved
Thanks for your interest in contributing a blog to the Building Performance Journal (formerly Home Energy magazine). We’re ...
Jim Gunshinan
Is Energy Efficiency an American Value?
Energy efficiency is good for the economy, good for families, good for workers, and good for the environment.
