SubscribeThe outpouring of response on the recent NYT article about the Hartford family, who had tried to exchange the title to their 16 year old Lincoln Town Car for fuel oil, has brought to light one of the reasons I starting writing DSS in the first place: the intersection of public policy [...]
DemandSideSolutions
energy issues in the built environment
Tag: residential
Withering away?
Due to a lack of pain, The Green Building Curmudgeon makes this, likely correct, prediction:
The big question is, what will happen to the home performance industy as incentives go away? It will probably fare better in regions with high energy costs, where paybacks are faster. Where energy audits or HERS ratings [...]
Enough Pain to Spend $$ on Upgrades?
I have come around to the view that “deep energy retrofits” in the residential sector are a pipe dream, at least at any sort of scale that is significant. Why? Well, they’re expensive, and utilities just don’t hurt most homeowners enough. The “pain” of most folks monthly bills isn’t large enough for them to justify [...]
The Long View
Alan Meier, of LBNL, posts a 20+ year energy use profile of Danny Parker’s house.
Danny, of the Florida Solar Energy Center, is clearly an energy geek and his record of energy use and significant events (both house and human related) prove a powerful reminder that houses last a long time; there is nothing wrong with [...]
Kansas: Lessons Learned?
I was researching something on the energycodes.gov website the other day and came across a tidbit of information I wasn’t aware of. There are only a few states with no energy code on the books, one of which is Kansas. It takes this alternate route:
Homebuilders or realtors must disclose information about the home energy [...]
Take Out a Home Equity Loan to Fix Your Ice Damming Problem
Via the WSJ Real Estate News comes two stories that beg for a connection:
1) Home equity lending is beginning to rebound
2) With the recent storm cycles, ice dams are common
Have an ice dam? Consider fixing it and taking out a home equity loan to finance the work. You’ll reduce the risks associated with this all-too-common [...]
Disclosure as Total Cost of Ownership
From Laura Stukel via GreenHomes America:
For years, mortgage lenders have trained us to focus on PITI. We figure out how much home you should buy based on Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance. But that is only part of the picture. For example, the Institute for Market Transformation notes that energy costs are a significantly larger [...]
A Tiny Hole
I usually don’t republish the entire work of others, but this post from Allison Bailes is too good to pass up:
Snow on the Roof is the poor man’s infrared camera. During the snow days we just had in Atlanta, Jeffrey Sauls, EVER rater and owner of D2D Sustainability, sent me the photo below.
What you see [...]
The MELs Piece of Pie
Jetson Green highlights some of GEs new home energy management tools and products the company recently unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. In the residential world miscellaneous electric loads (MELs), and other occupant driven energy effects, have traditionally been assumed-away as things beyond anyone’s control but the occupant. That is and has been changing in [...]
The HPC Lobby Responds to the HUD PowerSaver Program
Not long after I linked to the LBL publication on the HUD PowerSaver loan program, EfficiencyFirst (EF), the home performance lobby, posted their recommended changes. If you recall, PowerSaver is part of the package of initiatives rolled out by the President’s administration with the Home Energy Score. PowerSaver is administered by HUD, and has the [...]