Did you know that code allows gas ranges to vent right into your kitchen and emit more parts per million of carbon monoxide than a water heater which vents into your chimney?
Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it safe. Here, Dan tells you what happens when you cook with a gas oven or cook top and how to do it safely.
Performance Energy is now an Accredited Business of the Better Business Bureau
After a several-weeks-long approval process, we just received notice of Performance Energy’s approval as an Accredited Business by the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin.
We’re very proud. But it’s just the beginning. We pledge to continue to put forth our best effort to live up to the honor by providing quality service and honest information to all our customers.
Snow can present a major problem for owners of solar roofs in northern climates.
Don’t get me wrong. We’re not anti-PV. Quite the contrary. We install PV as well as solar thermal systems. On a personal note, we lived completely off-grid and used two small PV systems to supply electricity for our home and an outbuilding for three years before moving to the Wausau area. It was a wonderful experience in many ways and we plan to install PV in some capacity on our new home once we’ve gotten that far in the renovation process.
Visit Performance Energy, Inc.
A few posts ago I shared the letter I wrote that was published last November in the Wausau Daily Herald. They asked me to comment on what inspired me to write. this is what I told them:
I’ve been following science on global warming since I was 14 years old. (I’m 52 now.) I understand the science underpinning global warming inside out backward and forward.
It is as counter-intuitive to think you can add carbon dioxide to the earth’s atmosphere and not raise the temperature as it is to think you could throw a down comforter on someone and think you’re not going to make them warm.
(To combat global warming), the first thing we need to do is to stop building stupid boxes. That’s what I call modern houses (which lose a lot of energy.) the building code needs a radical remake. We need to change the code for housing construction. Second thing we need to do is make funding available for upgrading existing homes, And the third thing is to get serious about electric vehicles.
We can make electricity domestically, but we can’t produce more oil domestically. We simply cannot drill our way out of this. There’s not enough oil on the planet to meet future demand. We can make electricity from a wide variety of sources, but we can only get oil from the Saudis and the Venezuelas of the world.
People aren’t taking this seriously. My generation and I are leaving a legacy for my children and grandchildren. I believe we have to live by the saying: We do not inherit the earth from our parents; we’re borrowing it from our children.
-Dan Michelsen
Just registered to reserve a booth for the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, 2010. Seems like a long way away still, but it’ll be here before we know it!
Kudos to St. Anne’s Parish of Wausau, WI for their recent decision to become a Green congregation. It’s a responsible choice and a natural one for a community that wishes to honor God’s creation.
This Saturday, Jan. 9th from 10:30-3:30, St. Anne’s will be hosting an interdenominational workshop on eco-spirituality. The key speaker, former professor Sister Lucy Slinger, has worked with indigenous peoples of Australia and Africa. Her passion for the sacred dimension of all Creation helps lead people to a deeper understanding of the relationship between self, others, God and Earth.
Performance Energy, Inc. is delighted and honored to be a part of this important event. We will have equipment and informational displays on sustainable home energy available for viewing during the workshop and during and after the next morning’s service. We will also be offering a drawing for a solar site assessment at the event.
A few weeks ago we posted a little primer on R-value and how understanding it can help you make intelligent value choices for your home. (If you missed it and aren’t sure what R-value is, take a minute and read What the Heck is R-Value, Anyway?)
Now we’re going to tell you why R-value is overrated.
Heat flow vs. air flow
When it comes to keeping your home comfortable, there are three “flow systems” you need to be aware of: air flow, heat flow and moisture flow. A material’s R-value, or resistance to heat, only applies to one of them. (I think you can guess which one!)
The problem with rating an insulating material only according to R-value is that heat flow is only part of the picture. One of the major ways you lose energy is because of air flow – all the little cracks and gaps and crevices in your walls. Preventing heat from escaping is good, but you also want to make sure your walls aren’t allowing air to flow through them.
That’s one of the issues with fiberglass insulation. It’s light and fluffy and air flows right through it. If your home is tight it may not be an issue, but if you have cracks and fissures in your building envelope you’ll feel it in the form of drafts and higher energy bills.
Board insulation and foam insulation (like any of the expanding foams on the market or non-expanding foam like Insulsmart), on the other hand, let virtually no air through. Try this experiment: take a piece of cotton or polyester stuffing and hold it to your mouth. Now plug your nose and breathe. No problem, right? (Don’t do this with real fiberglass unless you really enjoy irritated skin.)
Now, do the same thing with a hunk of Styrofoam and see how fast you turn blue. Which do you think makes better draft protection?
Funny Numbers
The other problem with R-value is one of temperature. R-value testing on insulation is done at – get this – 75°F. With no air flow.
Now who needs insulation when it’s 75 degrees out? I don’t know about you, but at 75 degrees I’m opening my windows and enjoying the breeze. Insulation? Who needs it?
Insulation only matters when there’s an appreciable difference in temperature between what Mother Nature wants to throw at us and where we have our thermostat set.
If materials behaved the same regardless of temperature it wouldn’t matter. But they don’t. Some materials actually perform better as the temperature drops.
And some perform worse. Way worse.
Let’s pick on fiberglass again. Fiberglass is usually rated at about R-3.1 or so per inch. Not too bad, considering how cheap it is. But did you know that the R-value of fiberglass can shrink by as much as 50% when temperatures dip below zero? Its effectiveness tanks like a rock when it gets cold. In subzero temperatures, fiberglass is only half again better per inch than plywood sheathing. (Or worse – at least wood doesn’t settle and makes a pretty decent air barrier.)
In contrast, some materials work harder for you as the temperature drops. For instance, Insulsmart improves from R-4.6 at 75° to a toasty R-5.1 at 25°.
Need to insulate your home?
If you’re thinking of insulating your home don’t be fooled by funny numbers. Make sure you know the whole story about the product you install. A more expensive product often turns out to be the best value in the long run.
What’s your experience?
To find out more about how you can take charge of your home energy profile, visit us at http://www.Performanceenergyinc.com/.
Our first EconoBurn wood boiler unit is now on display at 1699 Schofield Ave. Suite 304 in Schofield, Wisconsin. It is solid. I just learned today that it is the only pressurized wood boiler to meet code requirements. All the outdoor wood boilers are open vessel, which means they rust out fast. A pressure vessel has no air and always the same water so there is no internal rust.
To view the boiler, please call me at 715-218-8654 for available times.
Dan Michelsen
Hooray!
We’ve been waiting with baited breath ever since placing our first dealer’s order with Alternative Fuel Boilers, the manufacturer of Econoburn wood gasification boilers. It hasn’t been that long, but it seems like it!
Anyway, the Econoburn folks just notified us that the EBW 150 we ordered has been shipped. So we should have a wood boiler in stock within a few days.
When talking home performance, the issue of R value often comes up. Unfortunately, in many circles “R-Value” has not yet become a household word. I’ve found that many times even well-educated people stare at me going “Huh?” when I mention R value.
So what is R value?
Simple. R stands for “resistance.” R value is a measure of thermal resistance. Without getting technical, that means it’s a measure of how hard it is for heat to pass through a material.
Now here’s where it gets a little more complex. You can’t measure the resistance to flow. You can only measure the flow of heat. Heat flow is measured as U value. A U value of 1 equals 1 BTU per hour per square foot per degree of temperature differential.
“Now wait a minute,” I can hear you saying. “You just said R value is a measure of resistance. Then you said you can’t measure resistance. Now I’m really confused. What gives?”
Well, yeah. You can’t measure resistance. But when we’re talking insulation, we think in terms of resistance. Like, when we put on a pair of mittens it keeps the cold from getting through to our fingers. We want a number that reflects the way we think. So we make one up. Like this:
We take the U value (a measure of heat flow through a material) and take its reciprocal. And that’s the R value.
Fortunately, we don’t usually have to do the math. Most building materials are rated in R value, so that’s the only number most of us need to be aware of most of the time. The higher the R value, the better the insulator, and (at least in theory) the warmer it’ll keep our homes in winter, and more effective it’ll be in keeping cool air in when it’s hot out.
Here are some typical R values for some common building materials per inch of thickness:
Stay tuned for the exciting sequel as we reveal why R-value is not always to be trusted.