(Almost) everything you need to know to build an energy-efficient house
In his weekly blog Musings of an Energy Nerd, Martin Holladay has dug deep into every aspect of energy-efficient home building and building science. Whether you’re a homeowner, builder, or architect, this collection of articles is an essential guide to designing and building a home that will save energy and money, and one that will be comfortable and durable for years to come. Enjoy!
Design and planning
How to Design a New Home
How to Design a Superinsulated House
How to Design a Net-Zero-Energy House
How to Design a House for a Hot Climate
How to Design a PERSIST House
How to Plan a Deep Energy Retrofit
How to Calculate Payback for Energy-Efficiency Improvements
How to Decide Whether to Use Energy Modeling Software
How to Decide Whether to Use Manual J Software
How to Decide Whether Your Wall Needs a Vapor Barrier
How to Decide Whether Your Roof or Walls Need a Radiant Barrier
How to Perform Dew-Point Calculations
How to Avoid Problems With Inward Solar Vapor Drive
How to Understand the HERS Index
How to Decide Whether to Install a Swimming Pool
How to Design Lighting for Your Home
Foundations
How to Build a Frost-Protected Shallow Foundation
How to Pour Concrete Footings Over Rigid Foam
Walls
How to Build a Straw-Bale House
How to Implement Advanced Framing Techniques
How to Install Larsen Trusses
How to Build Walls That Won’t Rot
How to Build Walls With Service Cavities
Roofs
How to Design Roofs
How to Perform a Chainsaw Retrofit
Exterior rigid foam and mineral wool
How to Calculate the Thickness of Rigid Foam Sheathing
How to Install Rigid Foam Sheathing
How to Fasten Furring Strips to a Foam-Sheathed Wall
How to Install Mineral Wool Over Wall Sheathing
Windows
How to Specify Window Glazing
How to Choose Triple-Glazed Windows
How to Choose Orientation-Specific Glazing
How to Choose Windows That Perform Better Than Walls
How to Specify Windows for a Passivhaus
How to Decide Whether High-Performance Windows Are Worth the High Cost
How to Install Windows in a Foam-Sheathed Wall
How to Nail Window Flanges Through Foam
How to Avoid Condensation on Your Windows
How to Make Sure Your Window Shutters Are the Right Size
Water-Resistive Barriers
How to Choose a Water-Resistive Barrier
How to Use Rigid Foam as a Water-Resistive Barrier
How to Decide Where to Put the Housewrap
How to Install a Liquid-Applied Air Barrier
Air sealing
How to Comply With the Thermal Bypass Checklist
How to Create an Air Barrier
How To Create an Air Barrier At Your Sheathing Layer
How to Implement the Airtight Drywall Approach
How to Seal Air Leaks in Your Home’s Envelope
How to Select the Best Tapes and Gaskets
How to Use Sprayable Caulk for Air Sealing
How to Conduct a Blower-Door Test
How to Conduct a Thermographic Inspection
How to Find Leaks With a Fog Machine
Insulation
How to Understand R-Value
How to Install Cellulose Insulation
How to Install Fiberglass Batts
How to Insulate a Basement Wall
How to Insulate An Old Brick Building
How to Build an Insulated Cathedral Ceiling
How to Create a Conditioned Attic
How to Build an Unvented Crawl Space
How to Reduce Thermal Bridging
How to Design a PERSIST House
How to Plan a Deep-Energy Retrofit
Siding
How to Install Stucco
How to Approach a Siding Replacement Job
Heating systems
How to Design a Heating System for a Small, Tight House
How to Perform a Heat-Loss Calculation – Part 1
How to Perform a Heat-Loss Calculation – Part 2
How to Design a Heating System Using Ductless Minisplits
How to Heat Your Whole House With Just Two Ductless Minisplits
How to Design Your Duct System
How to Keep Ducts Indoors
How to Solve Room-to-Room Pressure Imbalances
How to Seal Leaks in Ductwork
How to Test Your Duct System for Leakage
How to Decide Whether To Heat With Wood
Cooling
How to Perform a Cooling Load Calculation
How to Decide Between Central Air Conditioning and a Window-Mounted Air Conditioner
How to Remember the Names of Air Conditioner Components
How to Cool Your House With a Whole-House Fan
How to Specify and Operate Ceiling Fans
Ventilation systems
How to Design a Good Ventilation System
How to Determine Whether an HRV is Cost-Effective
How to Choose Between an HRV and an ERV
How to Duct an HRV
How to Maintain Your Ventilation Equipment
How to Install a Range Hood Safely
Domestic hot water
How to Choose a Water Heater
How to Decide Whether to Install a Tankless Water Heater
How to Choose a Heat-Pump Water Heater
How to Design and Install a Solar Hot Water System
How to Decide Between a Solar Hot Water System and a PV System
Renewable energy systems
How to Design a Solar Electric (PV) System
How to Decide Whether to Install a Wind Turbine
How to Design and Install a Solar Hot Water System
Appliances and plug loads
How to Choose an Energy-Efficient Refrigerator
How to Choose an Energy-Efficient Television
How to Choose a Clothes Dryer
How to Reduce Electricity Devoted to Plug Loads
Miscellaneous advice
How to Choose an Energy-Efficient Garage Door
How to Decipher the Tax Credits for Energy Retrofit Work
How to Prevent Ice Dams
How to Understand the Difference Between Energy and Power
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
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Fantastic Summary of articles on constructing a low-energy, pretty good, or passive solar home! We often send clients to read Martin's thoroughly researched and well-written articles. Seeing his primary articles all in one place is invaluable!
The Energy Nerd's Greatest Hits would make a thorough course for both builders and architects/designers as well as home owners who want to be intimately involved in the design and building process. I wonder if Fine Homebuilding and/or Green Building Advisor would see this as a worthwhile course to be developed and offered through energy conferences and/or webinars - something that bridged the gap between Energy Star and Passivhaus. And surely CEU continuing education credits could be had with AIA, USGBC, etc.
In any case, keep up the good work. Martin seems to write new articles faster than we can read and absorb them.
We live in an 85 m2 tract home that I retrofitted 21 years ago. I have monthly calculations and know the Energy Efficiency Index for each month and year. There is no one way to conserve, but it is always more cost effective to take advantage of the site and hold onto what you have. We rarely run our HVAC. The biggest problem is educating realtors and builders.
Oh my gosh, thank you SO MUCH for collecting all of these! And, I haven't read them all yet, but I'm assuming you wrote most of them, too. And, based on the title, probably all of them ;-) Thanks Martin!