It’s been incredibly hot in NW Arkansas over the past few weeks.  With temperatures averaging in the mid and upper 90’s each day, my A/C system has been working overtime.  I finally relented to lowering the thermostat in the house to 76 degrees.  It had been set at 78 degrees.
Add to that the fact that [...]

I hope your Memorial Day weekend was a great time to spend with family and friends.  My wife, daughters, and I spent the weekend at a family camp at a retreat center about an hour from home.  It was a great time to relax and forget about “real” life for a few days.
Before we left, [...]

According to some sources (here), up to 48% of a homes heat gain comes from windows.  This will vary greatly depending on the quality of windows in your home as well as the orientation of your house.  
Single paned windows will conduct much more heat than double paned windows.  Low E windows are one step [...]

File this as one of those things that you don’t have to worry about with me — keeping the garage door down.  I’ve always been a little nuts about making sure the doors around the house are closed and locked.  However, my reasons have more to do with security than with energy savings.
I read somewhere [...]

Today’s post will be short, but will cover a part of the house we usually don’t think about in regards to energy efficiency.  It’s your attic access.  If your attic access is located inside the interior of your home and is uninsulated, you essentially have a hole in your ceiling allowing conditioned air from the [...]

About a month ago, I wrote about helping a friend add cellulose insulation to his attic.  It is a very reasonable weekend project, depending on the size of your house and your willingness to take on new projects.  The price was also much less than I anticipated.
If you have a sufficient amount of attic insulation [...]

Here’s a simple step you can take to make an impact on the temperature in your home — Make sure your thermostat isn’t close to a heat source such as lamps, space heaters, windows, etc.  These heat sources can cause your thermostat to think the house is warmer than it really is and keep the [...]

Now that we’re firmly into Spring, I thought it would be good to focus on a tactic that many of us don’t use enough — turning off the A/C unit in the Spring time until you absolutely need to turn it on.  
I’ll admit that I like to have a cool house in summer.  The thought [...]

An often overlooked area of potential energy savings is something that happens in places you can’t normally see — in your attic or below the floor.  The ductwork that carries conditioned air to the interior of your home is usually very underinsulated.
Even if your ductwork is sealed properly, if it’s not properly insulated you are [...]

A few years ago, our air conditioner was out during the summer.  We had to wait a couple of days for the HVAC contractor to make it to our house.  With two small kids and a drafty older home, it was imperative that we keep the home as cool as possible.  Plus, I get really [...]