Adapting to the changes
I could be a James Bond villain; I have a white cat. His name is Buddy, and he is a magnificent mouser. He is very well behaved except that Buddy hates car rides (admittedly...
Making things better with heat pumps
A dear friend of mine, Art Bailey Jr., whom we lost too young to a heart attack, was one of those individuals who could fix anything mechanical. When he was a boy and his...
We’re talking about our irrigation, sounds like a gusher.
This morning, as I was walking my property, enjoying the coolness of the early day, my neighbor’s sprinkler system turned on. Sadly, due to a break in their irrigation system, none of the sprinklers...
Prettiest girl in the room
Did you ever watch a rom-com from the 1990’s? Invariably some super popular hot ultra cool guy is given a dollar to date some bookish, plain-Jane with a ponytail and glasses. At some point...
The time to speak is now
Plato once stated, “Silence is Consent.” Currently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is updating their criteria for Rev. 05 of the ENERGY STAR Multifamily New Construction Program (MFNC). You can review the list of changes...
Prepare to beat the summer heat
I have the song “Feeling Hot Hot Hot” by the calypso band The Merrymen going through my brain. Summer is in full swing and temperatures are in the stupid hot range. It really makes...
Will the CRREM rise to the top?
When I first heard the term “CRREM” I admit that I got excited because I thought it might be a type of filling for a fancy donut. Maybe I was just hoping. Setting my...
Lawyers take big government to the Supreme Court
“We all get to vote, but the ability to make legislation is no longer in the hands of the people we elect,” Columbia law professor Philip Hamburger said. As the administrative state implements more regulations...
Rules that make dishwashers, wash machines perform worse also illegal
Plaintiffs argue that the Department of Energy has no legal authority to impose its own water use limits on energy-consuming home appliances. The federal regulations that make dishwashers and washing machines worse are also illegal....
INFOGRAPHIC: Appliance payoff models explode
^58 percent increase in requested quotes to thousands of appliance repair businesses y/y (2022-2023) ^43 percent increase in appliance spend in 2023 compared to 2013—rising from $390 to $558 over the decade Why? 1987. Home appliances...
Study and prepare to dominate the test
I am different from my family in many ways. To me the most striking difference is in our disparate aptitudes. If you conduct a quick internet search on Buzz Nitschke or Bear Nitschke you...
DoE defines zero
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has released a document defining what qualifies a building to be called “zero emissions”. The DoE states that they intend their definition to “support the buildings sector moving...
In trash we trust
Continuing last week’s discussion about my trust issues, and battle cry of “Don’t Trust THE GUY.” I would like to examine why we trust our waste haulers implicitly. We really do. For those of...
As irrigation season arrives, adapt to the weather
As we cruise into summer, we anticipate it being warm, hot, or perhaps even stupid hot, depending on where you live in the country. Regardless, summer means that we tend to increase our irrigation...
Finding the low-hanging fruit of efficiency retrofits
I get asked a lot what are the top opportunities for efficiency retrofits. I never answer that question because there are always SO MANY opportunities for retrofit. Let’s face it, we are only limited...
