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.

What's moisture have to with energy? Quite a bit, actually. When we tighten up or insulate a house, there's the potential of causing moisture problems that could harm your health by allowing mold to grow or affect the life of materials your house is built from. And any time you work on a house, especially when you do things that affect the exterior envelope (walls, roof, foundation), you're provided with an opportunity to fix problems that may already exist.

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Last week, I addressed some of the benefits of capturing waste heat from power plants and distributing it to buildings--a technology referred to as combined heat and power or CHP. This week we'll look at how this idea could be implemented in Brattleboro--using sustainably produced wood chips as the fuel source.

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The majority of our electricity in the United States is generated by using a heat source to boil water and produce high-pressure steam, which then spins a steam turbine hooked up to a generator. To generate this steam, our utility companies burn fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, or--as with Vermont Yankee--they rely on the heat of nuclear fission. (Only hydropower, wind, and solar electricity generation do not rely on a heat source and production of steam.)