The single most cost effective way to make your home highly energy efficient is to have the right insulation
selected and installed correctly in your home. Doing this will make everything else work better. The design, money invested in your windows, and a better return on solar panels.

There are plenty of cheap and common insulation materials available on the market today. Many of these have been around for quite some time. Each of these insulations have their own ups and downs. As a result, when deciding which insulation material you should use, you should be sure to be aware of which material would work the best in your situation.
Recently, materials like aerogel (used by NASA for the construction of heat resistant tiles, capable of withstanding heat up to approximately 2000 degrees Fahrenheit with little or no heat …

By: Christiane Perrin
Maximizing the insulation for your green home is the most important step you can take towards reducing the heating and cooling energy requirements of your home and conserving energy. Many options are available to you, such as fiberglass batt, rigid or blown-in insulation. Let us look at cellulose blown-in insulation, which, in my opinion, is one of the greenest options available today.
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Building Material and Wood Technology, Department of Natural Resources Conservation, considers cellulose insulation a smart choice and recommends its use.
Why Use …

By: Muna wa Wanjiru
If your home is freezing cold in the winter and blistering hot in the summer, then you need an effective insulation system for your home. Many homes have old insulation system or no insulation at all. Old insulation system looses some or complete effectiveness with passing years. There are many different types of insulation systems are available, cocoon insulation is one them.
Heat enters in or out of your home walls through cracks and crevices around electrical sockets, windows, light fixtures and cracks at wall –ceiling junction. …

When you size your room for an air conditioner, or when a professional uses energy calculators to size a room for cooling system installation, there is a hidden variable that everyone misses – even the pros.
Do you know what it is?
The answer is people. People and to a lesser extent, pets.
In other words, the occupants of the house.
I’m not talking about your energy habits, like keeping the thermostat in check and weatherproofing your windows – though that is important.
There is actually a more obvious but “hidden” component we all forget …

As the weather continues to heat up, most folks are turning on their air conditioners. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing per se, athough it will surely force electric bills to creep higher (and possibly spiral out of control). I think most of us would rather get a similar cooling effect without taking the huge hit on our energy bills. Considering that wall or window units can consume 500 watts of power easily (for a small unit), its only wise to consider at least some alternatives to air conditioning.
Note: Please …

Welcome to the July 1, 2009 edition of summer cooling and air conditioning.

Dave Andersen presents How a professional contractor chooses a room air conditioner that won?t rip you off posted at Free Home Energy Saving Tips, saying, “post talks about sizing a room for air conditioner use”

Matt Henterly presents Average Home Electricity Usage posted at The EcoBlog, saying, “Reports from several unique sources of the average monthly electricity usage for U.S. homes. Helps consumers find where they rank vs. the “average” as part of an overall conservation plan.”

That concludes this …

Some think it is far easier to save on energy if you own a house. After all, you have *almost* complete control over appliances and how they run in a house. And there is a certain degree of truth to that. You have greater responsibility over the appliances and their upkeep, but if something goes wrong, you can turn off the unit altogether and come up with an alternative solution – or replace it.
Apartments or specifically the renters that reside in them don’t have those burdens – though they are …

Fixing your window air conditioner instead of replacing it saves you money, hundreds possibly. Chances are, a rattling or noisy air conditioner unit is due to faulty installation, a loose part, loose or worn window frame, loose window panes, loose filter (or wrong filter size), fan obstruction, loose front or side panels, or the condenser coil hitting any moving part (such as the fan).
The good news is you can repair all these.
Faulty Installation
We’re all human, and in the course of “being” human, we’re going to mess up installing something. I’ve …

Well without seeing the unit, there’s a small handful of things that could go wrong with the window unit air conditioner.
Is it dirty?
Believe it or not the number one cause of window unit air conditioner malfunction is dirty or grimey coils or condensers. The symptoms range from the unit smelling musty or blowing dirty air to the condenser not turning on at all even when the a/c unti is supposed to turn on (request for cooling was sent by the thermostat.) The fix is simple: clean the coils. Take a …