On Tuesday I talked about using incense to find leaks. But an even better way to do that is with a thermal leak detector. I didn’t realize how cool they were until Jason’s coworker Ahsan let us borrow his. This isn’t a thermal imaging camera; those show a picture with different colors for different temperatures and […]

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 […]

This weekend we participated in a weatherization barnraising organized by the Cambridge Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET). No, we weren’t weatherizing an actual barn; neighbors from all over Cambridge got together to help make two homes more energy efficient. We worked on things all over the houses, from installing aerators and low-flow showerheads to insulating.