Sliding Glass Doors: Comfort and Energy

Sliding glass door heat flow A sliding glass door’s large expanse of glass transmits a lot heat out of the home in the winter and into the home in summer. This heat flow takes three forms: heat conducts directly through the glass in winter, solar heat transmits...

Solar-PV-Powered Heat Pumps: Why not all homes?

Irrational Exuberance about Heat Pumps The  Passive House and Net-Zero movements  have spawned some irrational exuberance about heat pumps. When you build a home that requires less than 5 BTU/hr per square foot of floor space, you can often heat and cool it with...

Passive Houses

What is a Passive House? The passive house concept was pioneered in the Northern U.S. and Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was called “superinsulation”. European builders have improved the superinsulation technology and applied it to both...

Energy Conservation for Buildings: Our Best Investment

Approximately half of all energy used in the U.S. is consumed within buildings. Half of that energy is wasted because of shortsighted design, sloppy construction practices, and careless building operation. Energy conservation in buildings is the easiest and best...