Blog

The Uninsulated Home

When it comes to insulation, we know what we’re talking about. We know why cellulose outperforms fiberglass, and why the spray foam we recommend for your basement doesn’t make sense in your attic. We understand the importance of air sealing first to ensure that insulation performs its best.But why does insulation matter anyway? Put simply, insulation is the key to creating a comfortable home and preventing energy waste. This graphic explains what would happen in an uninsulated home:

Elder Star

For more than twenty years, Energy Star labels have helped us identify the most energy efficient appliances and products on the market. In that time, families and businesses have realized an estimated savings of more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The program is definitely working.

Home Performance 101

One of the occupational hazards of building-science-geekery is the professional crush.

U.S. is More Energy Efficient, Reports ACEEE – but Not Enough

While “it could be worse” is hardly a ringing endorsement of energy efficiency across the U.S. economy, it, well, could be worse. ACEEE’s first annual assessment of 15 national indicators showed that we’re moving – slowly and unsteadily – down the right path.

Financial Planning with your Energy Advisor

Energy efficiency has been all over the news lately, but among the headlines, this line made us sit up and take notice:“Energy efficiency investments can have returns so handsome they will rival those of successful criminal enterprises.”Wait…WHAT did he just say??

Climate Change Address Today

President Barack Obama makes an important address on climate change this afternoon, following up on the environmental emphasis of his second inaugural address. In a video announcement Saturday, Obama called global climate change “a serious challenge, but it’s one uniquely suited to America’s strengths.”

Next Step: Infrared Training Center

Thanks to a Next Step Maine Scholarship from the Maine Development Foundation, Energy Advisor Ham Niles will study advanced thermography at the Infrared Training Center in Boston in July. Ham received his scholarship at a cermony at the State House, left.

Trek Across Maine – again!

For some, Father’s Day means a new tie and a barbeque on the back deck. For Nate Spectre, his son Peter, and more than 2000 other cyclists, it means the Trek Across Maine.

Air Sealing and the Stack Effect

Sometimes building science just isn’t fair. It doesn’t care how much insulation you buy, or even how hard you work installing it. Nooooo, the laws of physics insist that your house is a system, and that insulation can only do its job when it goes hand in hand with air sealing.

Art, Energy Efficiency, and the Economy

We’re abuzz with the news of a new neighbor. The Center for Maine Contemporary Art announced last week that it’s moving to downtown Rockland – a stone’s throw from the Strand Theater and the Farnsworth Art Museum, and right across the street from Evergreen Home Performance.

Before You Pre-Buy…

The kids aren’t even out of school yet, and next winter’s oil prices are already on everyone’s minds. That’s because local oil companies are rolling out their budget plans for next winter’s heating season, presenting consumers with the annual debate: to pre-buy or not? Every year, I look up this personal finance blog for its clear discussion of the most common options. He hasn’t posted predictions for the coming heating season yet, but the concepts remain the same.

Behavioral Science Can Lower Your Energy bill

Entreaties to save money, save the planet, or be a good citizen may not inspire people to conserve energy, but positive peer pressure sure does. In this TED talk, Alex Laskey, founder and president of Opower, explains how human psychology can make us all better, wiser energy users, with lower bills to prove it.