Some Breathing Room to Button Up Our Homes

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We faced some pretty tough choices this past summer. Heating oil prices were around $4.50 per gallon, and scary news reports were projecting $5.00 per gallon by January. Some rushed to lock in prices by pre-buying their winter oil. It was a gamble. Were prices going to go even higher (as the heating season approaches, heating oil prices have traditionally risen), or would the bubble burst and prices fall?

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On the Path to Passive Survivability

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Creating a superinsulated building envelope is one of the key requirements with passive survivability. I saw this superinsulated home feature when I was in Sweden last year.Photo: Alex Wilson. Click for bigger.

(More below.)

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Should I Replace My Windows?

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If your existing single-glazed windows are in reasonable condition and replacing the sash isn't an option, installing storm windows often makes sense.

I get this question a lot from homeowners wanting to reign in their energy costs. Windows usually account for about a quarter of the heat loss in a typical house. State-of-the-art, triple-glazed windows (with two low-e coatings and krypton gas fill) will dramatically reduce that heat loss, so it would seem that replacing your windows would be one of the most sensible things we could do in buttoning up our homes--right?

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U.S. Wind Power Increases by 81.6 Percent Since Last Year

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Sort of. The executive summary of the September 2008 Electric Power Monthly, released a few days ago by the Energy Information Administration — a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy — states that "Wind-powered generation [in June 2008] was 81.6 percent higher than it was in June 2007." Holy cow! However, it goes on, "Even with this significant increase, the contribution of wind-powered generation to the national total was only 1.2 percent in June 2008." Does it constitute a baby step in the right direction nonetheless? Maybe.
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Advances in Windows

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Windows have a huge impact on the energy use of our homes. Fortunately, there have been dramatic advances in window technology over the past thirty years. This column will take a look at factors that affect the energy performance of windows.

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