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insulation

Picture of a house with a title that says design an attractive cozy home

Design an Attractive, Cozy Home

By Energy Rant No Comments
Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams recently published an online article, Things I learned about heat pumps: a homeowner's perspective. I shared this with some folks, and in response, I was asked for general advice on new home construction. I am not a residential efficiency expert, but I performance-specified a new home built for my wife and me back in 2000, and in recent years I side-graded to a smaller home built in 1934. I learned a lot from both experiences. I won’t advise, but I will say what I would do if I were to provide a conceptual design with…
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Climate Change Resilience by Blunt Force Instrument

By Energy Rant No Comments
Per the last couple of posts, we examined policies, trends, and physics behind property destruction, storms, and fire. This week provides ways to avoid destruction and loss from fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and extreme cold, which we are experiencing again. Have you seen the temperatures in Florida lately? Construction of Choice One type of construction can serve as the answer for many climate-related hazards, and that would be insulated concrete forms (ICF) with appropriate roofing and exterior finishes. (The third little pig had a point, ya know) The white sections in the drawing represent the insulating forms, which are typically…
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Burnin Down the House

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant, Government No Comments
Some things in life you have to fully commit yourself to or they will end in colossal failure, or immeasurably small success.  When I was a kid I played Evel Knievel by setting up ramps of 2x12 planks and concrete blocks.  I jumped my bike across maybe a five foot “canyon”.  Note, this was before mountain bikes.  Gary Fischer may have been developing his mountain bike in his garage but there was nothing available on the market.  I used a purple girl’s bike, single speed, no shock absorbers, no foot clips, and certainly no helmet.  Why the girl’s bike?  The…
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