Diagram of an inexpensive diagnostic tool most of us already own.
I’ve highlighted a number of cheap or free ways to find leaks in your home in earlier posts (and of course a free energy audit from Mass Save is always a top-choice.)
Here’s one more: If your hearing is good, you can actually –hear– a leaky house. Continue reading
A short post on this, the first snowfall of the year, even if it is only a dusting.
If your roof has stripes like this, you’ve got a problem. Either your insulation is failing/missing or you’ve got an air-sealing problem or both. Continue reading
There are two weatherization barnraisings in Waltham on MLK weekend.
Sat. Jan. 14th
A low-income home
1 Spruce Street
10 am – 2 pm
If you recall the post a few weeks ago about a family spending $280/year to keep their entertainment system off, this is the home. Help out a low income home while learning how to lower your energy bills and meeting nice folks. To sign up or for more information, email Erica Schwarz.
Monday, Jan. 16th
Temple Beth Israel
25 Harvard St.
12:30 – 5 pm
If you’re interested in heat loss, this building is a great one to study. It’s got some classic huge problems. The Temple mostly has older folks in it who aren’t so spry. Volunteers can Sign up here.
If you haven’t heard Paul Eldrenkamp, head of Byggmeister Inc., or even if you have, try to make his talk in Belmont, MA on Wednesday, February 1st.
Byggmeister isn’t an ordinary construction company and Paul isn’t an ordinary builder – they focus on making homes that work. That isn’t just the flow of the house, it includes the function and efficiency throughout. Whether it is a more efficient basement and utilities, a wider eave to keep the home cooler in summer and dryer year-round or a focus on Passive House of Net Zero Energy – Paul and his team are doing it.
Also, I can’t recall any other speaker I’ve seen who can speak in detail about Passive House standards while tying in Kafka and other philosophers.
Where: Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Avenue, Flett Room
When: Wednesday, February 1, 7-9 pm
DISCLAIMER: We buy things from EFI but we don’t get anything special from promoting them. Just want to make that clear.
UPDATE: EFI informed me that the program changed – the new flyer (linked below) is accurate as of 12/28/2011.
Our favorite local efficiency store, Energy Federation Inc. of Marlborough, has great
Business customers get great deals on LEDs right now.
discounts available for businesses. You can get LED lights for a song (some as low as $1.) Yes, you can actually get some LEDs for less than an incandescent bulb.
Unfortunately this is only for business electricity customers (technically, all “non-residential rate” customers.)
The flyer for the rebates is a .pdf file here.
Not certain which bulb to buy? Contact Steve at (800) 876-0660 ext. 4437 and tell him A-HEET sent you.
Condensation on window. Image by Natasha C Dunn-Some rights reserved.
“My name is Jeremy and I have a humidity problem.”
Solving moisture problems in the home can seem like a 12 step process. First, you need to need to admit there is a problem.
This time of year, many people are very willing to admit to the problem. Actually, a lot of people are calling out for help to fix the problem, afraid their homes are quickly turning into petri dishes. Continue reading
**UPDATE** Discounted smart strips available through our friends at Energy Federation Inc.
Today I helped audit a home in Waltham. The family had a large, but not unusually large entertainment center. TV, DVR, DVD player and one or two other gizmos.
In the Boston area each watt costs approx. $2 annually, so 140 watts = $280/year
When everything was turned OFF the system was pulling 140 watts. That is $280 each year — if always off! Continue reading
We don’t promote conspicuous consumption, but the one place we get some of our more advanced efficiency items is having a sale. EFI, located in Westborough and online is having a sale.
See below for details, and tell ’em A-HEET sent you.
BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT: From 6:30 am November 26th through midnight on November 28th the promotion code “BLACK10” will be automatically entered for you during checkout, and a 10% discount will be applied to all orders of $30.00 or more.
CYBER MONDAY DISCOUNT: Then, after 6:30 am (eastern) on November 28th, the promotion code “CYBER15” will be automatically entered for you during checkout and a 15% discount will be applied to orders of $50.00 or more.
This summer I kept more than 1,000 lbs. of “garbage” from getting hauled dozens of miles away in a 3 mpg vehicle to an incinerator. I also saved money and got great compost.
Spurred by a question from JP Greenhouse, I decided to see how quickly I could make ‘urban compost’ with nothing but coffee grinds and newspaper.
For about eight weeks:
went into a town-discounted ‘New Age Composter’ compost unit. The compost turned out great, with near-perfect pH (6.9), nitrogen within norms, and very high potassium. If you don’t care about the details, you can skip to the test results below. Continue reading
There are a lot of stupid things spinning around, particularly on the internet.
Nonsense spins round right round like a record
On the energy side, one piece of advice that always annoys me is to ‘reverse your ceiling fan in winter’ because it is supposed to circulate the warm air back to you faster, or something like that. Continue reading