Skip to main content
Monthly Archives

June 2013

Communication – Nuggets of Ponderation

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
Communication in our business of delivering energy efficiency services, reports, and projects, and in any organization for that matter, is almost always an issue. One thing never heard is, “I don’t want to know all that.  Stop it.”  Why?  Because the receiver can hit the ignore button or the delete button, but more often because there is hardly ever too much information transfer. Here are some gold nuggets regarding communication. The documentation rule:  If it isn’t written down and shared with stakeholders in near real time – like after a meeting, phone call, event, milestone, on the same day, or…
Read More

Alternative Fuels – ET Says, “What’s the Matter with You?”

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
I was reading this opinion piece by the Rolling Stones keyboardist and forestry nut, and it didn’t take long for an age-old rant topic to emerge.  This one is about misguided allocation of resources, particularly for alternative fuels, to achieve desired ends.  If an alien (say, ET, although I’ve never watched the movie) landed in the US and evaluated our alternative fuel feed stocks and end use fuels (e.g. ethanol), it would say, “What are you doing man?  This is insane!”But first, let me begin with how the pursuit of wealth, which happens to be the force behind a growing economy…
Read More

Ugh – Frosty Coils!

By Briefs
Cooling coils in a refrigeration system go through a defrost cycle to remove frost buildup. In coolers, this process can be as simple as stopping the refrigerant flow through the coil and continuing to let the fan run.
Read More

Duct Leakage Chaff

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 3 Comments
Due to duct leakage, only 57% of heat generated in a home furnace is delivered to conditioned spaces.  OMG!  Run for your lives.  Big deal. I have overheard conversations at conferences and other networking gigs that include statements like, “We are so focused on envelope tightness, insulation, energy-saving windows, and efficient appliances, but meanwhile we are wasting almost half the heat produced in an energy efficient furnace.”  Not so fast. In mechanical engineering, we have the first and second laws of thermodynamics.  The first law is like a change machine – conservation of money.  Put a piece of cotton-infused paper…
Read More

Energy Efficient Technologies that Suck [Energy]

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant One Comment
Sometimes I wonder. No, sometimes I’m amazed how certain energy efficient technologies have fooled the industry and the public for years, possibly even decades, into a false sense and blind acceptance for energy savings.  Want to see two technologies that are flexible, cheap, easy to use, and effective at saving energy?  That’s it – the first two wonder technologies shown. Instead, there are universally accepted incentives and “savings” that would make a charlatan blush.  Exhibit A: the occupancy sensor for lighting control.As I ranted in Oh Behave, I have found that this technology wastes energy by training occupants to leave…
Read More