Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity & Department of Energy Webinar Series

 

Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) is hosting a series of training webinars for potential applicants to the Department of Energy’s Building Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP). The prize is awarding over $22 million in cash prizes and technical assistance to teams with winning ideas to accelerate equitable energy efficiency and building electrification […]

Home Heating Prices Are Rising, but States & Utilities Can Lower Costs with Energy Upgrades

By Mark Rodeffer, ACEEE Press Secretary

Many U.S. households will pay significantly more for home heating costs—sometimes hundreds of dollars more—this winter. The burden falls disproportionately to low-income and Black, Hispanic, and Native American households, which pay a much larger share of their income on energy bills. Amid the rising costs, policymakers, regulators, […]

Improving Sustainable Building Practices with BIM

Rose Morrison

Global warming is no longer something humans can ignore. Rising oceans, temperatures and extreme weather have already negatively affected coastal areas on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and everywhere in between. The time has come to start thinking sustainably for the future.

Building information modeling (BIM) benefits sustainable construction. […]

Book Review: Bigger Than Tiny, Smaller Than Average

Bigger Than Tiny, Smaller Than Average by Sheri Koones. Published by Gibbs Smith, Layton, UT, 2022

Reviewed by Janis Petzel, M.D.

When my husband and I decided to build our house in 2013, we loved the idea of a tiny house, for energy efficiency, mindful use of space, and their cuteness. But […]

Energy Efficient Refrigeration

Wes Golomb

After heating and cooling, two of the larger residential energy consuming devices are the refrigerator and freezer. It’s no wonder. These appliances are used 24/7 accounting for about 17% of residential energy consumption.

Incremental improvements in the cooling process and the thermal performance are continually making refrigerators and freezers […]

Hazards from Using Natural Gas in your Home

Cookstoves, Heat, Hot Water and Pipelines

It is estimated that up to 1.3% of the gas used in stoves leaks into the atmosphere. This seems trivial, but since there are more than 40 million gas stoves in the U.S., the emissions have about the same climate change effect as the carbon dioxide from […]

Warm and Cool Homes #4: The House That Jack Built

Jack Bingham’s house in Barrington, NH (Jack Bingham)

Wes Golomb

Jack Bingham’s house is a direct result of the research he conducted at the University of New Hampshire on how heat pumps can make greenhouses usable in the winter. Most greenhouses are either shut down in winter or are inefficiently heated […]

Beating a Hurricane With Solar And Batteries!

Babcock Ranch solar array. FPL image.

George Harvey

The sun doesn’t always shine, but so what?

It doesn’t prevent solar power and batteries from providing electricity 24/7 during a hurricane that shut down the grid in Florida. The big thermal plants just could not deliver electricity on the failed grid. […]

ICIS launches Europe’s first market-linked renewable hydrogen assessments

London, 27 September 2022 — ICIS, a global source of Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, has launched the first hydrogen price assessments to reflect the market value of renewable electricity. This product will support participants with the intelligence needed to develop a liberalised clean hydrogen market and optimise energy transition resources.

European policymakers have earmarked the […]

Cautionary Words About Foam Insulation

Junio Anthes-Moody

People do have reason to be concerned about using foam where other alternatives are just as viable. All foams that we use are made of plastic, but they vary in the blowing agents that make the tiny bubbles that turn plastic into foam. Some foams such as foil faced polyisocyanurate (commonly […]