We’ve done a lot of caulking and weatherstripping since we moved into the apartment two years ago, and it’s made a big difference in the drafts we feel. But I knew there were some we still didn’t know about. So I pulled out an incense stick to help us find them. This is best to […]

On Friday I shared with you some of Michael Blasnik’s advice on the best ways to save energy at home. But a lot of what I found most interesting about the lecture was how much oft-repeated advice is wrong. For instance: Blocking off registers to unused rooms may actually make your furnace work harder and waste […]

On Thursday I went to a lecture by energy consultant Michael Blasnik at MIT. Blasnik’s right up my alley, a very practical environmentalist who bases his recommendations on studies of the real efficiency of energy-saving activities. He’s currently conducting a study of the national weatherization assistance program. So his presentation was full of something I’ve […]

Yesterday I went on a tour of Harvard’s 46 Blackstone Street. The college’s first LEED Platinum building (now one of 39 LEED-certified projects at the college), it houses the college’s Office for Sustainability, Operations Center, and other administrative offices. The site is made up of three buildings that surrounded the old Cambridge Electric Light steam […]

Okay, so I admit that I’ve been back from Cuba for a week without writing anything. I’ve just been too busy. But I’m kind of glad that I didn’t pass on my impressions right away; they’ve had some time to percolate. Keep in mind that this isn’t my normal heavily researched sort of post; it […]