Common Myths about Energy Efficiency

[John Raabe]

Here is a good article from the Journal of Light Construction on 11 common misconceptions of home builders about the energy aspects of a house.

This is the PDF file: http://tinyurl.com/5vopsj
Here is the HTML: http://tinyurl.com/5ntra6

(Written by the editor of Energy Design Update)

[MountainDon]

Interesting info, John.

[mvk]

Thanks John

Those are the kinds of questions that brought me here and now I learned a little more.

I googled energy design update and got a bunch of lawyers I think! whats with that This whole Internet is smarter then me.

Mike

[John Raabe]

Energy Design Update is a long running and very good (but expensive) newsletter on home energy research and technology. In the last century (80's), when myself and two partners - "building science types" - had a big government contract for training building inspectors we had a subscription. I think it was $400/yr then.

Let me see if I can find anything...

• PDF copy of Sept 2006 issue that has an interesting article on the shrinkage of exterior foam wall insulation: http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/pdfs/edu_0906.pdf

• PDF copy of March 2003 issue, "Grasping At Eels      http://www.bsr-vt.org/vbg/EDUMarch2003final.pdf           
Many builders approach green construction the way
the Supreme Court approaches pornography — it's
hard to define, but you know it when you see it."

• Here's an even older reprint of an article from '96 on a gray water heat recovery device that I have thought was very simple and clever: http://gfxtechnology.com/EDU-R3.pdf. Here is a bit more information on this: http://oikos.com/esb/42/gfx.html.
These things work best in a 2 story house or a house with a basement as the main shower needs to be a floor above the unit.

And, in case you want to sign up for the EDU newsletter, here is the subscription page: http://www.aspenpublishers.com/product.asp?catalog_name=Aspen&product_id=SS07413629

[eric]

That's a great article, thanks.

[MountainDon]

I'm just bumping this to the top as it is a very good article that may have been mised by some.

[John Raabe]

I just updated my links above. (Sample copies of EDU articles)