The idea for Energy Circle arose from two competing realizations:
1. That tackling energy use in the home has the highest ROI of virtually any investment we can make in energy generation, efficiency improvement or greenhouse gas reduction. (Source: McKinsey Global Institute's Report, The Case for Investing in Energy Productivity, February 2008.)
2. That our homes, regardless of size and construction, are remarkably complex ecosytems of interrelated air flows, heat and cold, moisture, thermal barriers and electricity usage (to name a few.) Source: my house and life.
Our singular goal as a company is to take the complexity out of home energy.
Yesterday on the excellent New York Times blog, Green Inc, Editor Tom Zeller wrote Home Green Home: The Low-Hanging Fruit, an opening post on the journey he and his wife are embarking on with their newly bought house in Putnam County, NY. Watching their video reminded me of our own early days of discovering building science and beginning to peel the onion back on what was happening with energy, heat, air and all the other key elements in our house.
As we dove in, got a whole house energy audit, and started tackling our problems, we discovered an interconnectedness that was eye opening. In our latest video, here's the story of an ice dam, a basement moisture problem and how we spent a lot of money fixing the wrong thing. (Thanks to our video stud Tim for a great job producing this.)
Further Reading:
The CREE LLF LED LR6 Downlight ceiling can retrofit lights that might have solved our basement moisture problem.
My prior post: Home Energy Retrofits: Is it Rocket Science?
Comments
Excellent video and comments, Peter!
I enjoy these vignettes of yours....boils all this down into simple things!
BTW, I hate to tell you....you might have a little wood rot going on just below that gutter by-pass!
Posted by Eric Fullagar on Feb 25, 2009 2:47pmNice job Peter, how would some type of solar water energy help you melt the ice dams?
Posted by FrankiePhlash on Feb 25, 2009 9:41pmWhat a great video. Thanks!
Posted by mh on Feb 26, 2009 5:35amThe heat from inside the house will still be leaking up into that area and may continue to cause ice damming.
Don't forget to airseal the can light from above....or try to. and make sure it is rated for insulation contact! If it is not, then build a box around it with 2" of space between the can light and the box and air seal that with spray foam.
Posted by Svea Tullberg on Feb 28, 2009 2:00pmI agree with Svea, even though you found that fix for all those issues, you still may get heat from the house itself to leak up on that area.
You should have someone come out with a blower door and infrared / smoke to find the leakage in your thermal envelope and really seal it up!
Posted by Francis on May 22, 2009 5:27am