The insulation that lines your walls of your home can save you a lot of money on your utility bills.

 

Insulation acts as a barrier to keep the hot or cool air you pump into your house inside the house and keep the hot or cool air outside of the house. However, if you live in a old house, there may not be any insulation in your walls.

 

There are several tools you can use to check your walls for insulation, and this article will guide you through the process.

 

One method is to unhook the light switch cover on your wall, thus opening a small hole in the wall through which you can look for insulation.

 

 

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You may have ordered a new air conditioner for your home based on the title and the capacity it says that it can reach. But that all may have been false advertising. There are a number of reasons why the mass or weight scale of your air conditioning unit may not be accurate or may be a complete misrepresentation of the product in question.

 

Also, when the unit cools, you will notice that sometimes it works better than others, but you wills till have the same reading on the temperature scale. This can be due to outside conditions and not the functioning of your air conditioning unit at all.

 

Grab The Full Story Here:  http://www.energyvanguard.com/blog-building-science-HERS-BPI/bid/59745/3-Reasons-Your-3-Ton-Air-Conditioner-Isn-t-Really-3-Tons

If you have considered fumigating your home, you have probably heard of all the negative side-effects that the deadly fumes can have.

 

Consider using steam instead of fumigating. Steam can kill the bugs and other infestations that bring bacteria and viruses along with them. This can dramatically improve your quality of life inside your home.

 

The high pressure and high temperature steam can also kill the bugs that live in your bed. This article also recommends that a particular brand of steam cleaner be used, although it is not clear that it is better or needed. Steam does not cause mold growth and can even remove mold.

 

Green Cleaning: Using Steam to Kill Germs and Bed Bugs

If you would like to save money on your utility bill, then having properly installed insulation can keep your costs down by keeping in the cool air in the summer as well as the hot air out. During the winter, it can help keep the warm air inside and the cold air out.

 

Having an air barrier that does both of these functions is essential if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your heating and air conditioning. Many people overlook the air barrier in keeping the inside air inside your home, and prefer to look at how it can keep outside air out.

 

 

Does Your Air Barrier Work in Both Directions?

Steam cleaning can be a powerful tool that can clean everything from homes, which by the way can replace fumigation, to vehicles and greasy boats and other machinery.

 

In addition to being a very effective method of cleaning things, steam cleaning is experiencing an increased popularity as of late because it is a green form of cleaning. There are minimal chemicals used in steam cleaning compared to other methods. Steam does not overly wet surfaces in which it comes in contact because it is not made up of a high percentage of water.

 

This article recommends a particular brand of steam cleaner to use. That brand is the Goodway dry vapor steam cleaning product.

 

 

Green Cleaning: The History of Steam Cleaners

Properly installed ducts are very important in regards to the proper flow of air through your home. Even if you live in an expensive home, you should not take it for granted that the ducts have been installed properly.

 

 

 

Routine check-ups and maintenance are required to ensure that your duct system is working properly at all times. It can be frustrating to deal with all of the ‘snakes’ which compose the duct tubing in your attic or crawl space, however it is a necessary and important part of good home maintenance.

 

 

 

This article relates a short story of a time in an expensive house where duct installation when horribly wrong. This can cost the homeowner time, in terms of finding a contractor to fix or fixing it themselves, as well as money on their utility bill.

 

 

 

 

 

Snakes in an Attic — The Ductopus’s Cousin Strangles Bath Fans

 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is currently researching Net Zero Energy (NZE) homes, using their newly constructed Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility.

 

In addition, NIST is collaborating with energy experts to analyze and prioritize the steps needed to achieve NZE homes. Their most recent report details a set of guidelines to help in the process of constructing and designing these homes.

 

This report organizes its guidelines into three main focal areas, then breaks down the priorities of each area so the information is easily accessible. It also calls for a scoring system that will help consumers understand where their home fits in terms of gaining NZE status.

 

The author of this article presents RESNET‘s Home Energy Rating System as a starting place for creating a more detailed solution to the scale. NZE homes should be an area of focus for our future. The recent NIST research, while not yet perfected, provides many valuable ideas for moving toward this goal.

 

 

NIST Takes on the Net Zero Energy Home Challenge