The first of a new series of articles on exterior solar blinds. In this opening series, the home owner describes how their large south facing windows are causing issues with excessivve heat build up inside their home and UV damage to interior florring and furnature.
home renovation

Exterior Solar Blinds - Part 1 - The Need

ecoENERGY Retrofit Grant Program - < 1% Participation To Date
Unbelievable. How can the participate rate be so incredibly low by Canadian home owners in their Federal Government's energy retrofit grant program.
Why have the local and international media not taken up on this?

ecoENERGY Retrofit - Provincial Energy Assessment Grant
A nice article reminding us to check with our local utilities and governments to see if they provide free home energy audits or provide at least partial reimbursement programs.
And, if they do not, perhaps we should start to demand that they do?

Home Energy Audits - Exactly What Are They?
A very nice article about exactly what a home energy assessment is all about with links to a super US government site explaining what a home owner can do themselves and what a professional firm would do to assess the energy efficiency of a home or building.

ecoENERGY Report - Follow-up - Drain Water Heat Recovery (DWHR) Device
This article expands on the understanding of the DWHR device which significantly reduces the amount of energy needed to heat incoming fresh water into a home within the home's hot water tank or an instantaneous water heater.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 15 - Now What?
This is the 15th and last article from an average home owner on his experiences participating in the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, the home howner reveals what actions he is planning to take or has already started to take based on the contents of the energy audit report on his house under the program.

Energy Audit
This site contains the series of articles about an average home owner's experience with the energy audit report received on their home. These articles include the actual graphs, charts, recommendations, and so on from the actual report as well as hte home owner's reaction.
This really is tremendous reading and should encourage all home owners to stop procrastinating and have an energy audit on their own home. It also reminds all of us of the many different ways that everyone can conserve energy usage.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 14 - Estimated Heat Loss
Article on a home owner's experience with the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, the graph showing the estimated heat loss from the different areas of the home is shows and discussed.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 12 - Space Heating Energy Consumption
This is the 12th article in a 15+ series of articles by a home owner on his experiences from participating in the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, the Estimated Annual Space Heating Energy Consumption chart received from the 'energy audit' wtihin the program is displayed and discussed.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 7 - Recommendations
This is the 7th article in a 15+ series of articles on an average home owner's experience with the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, we are introduced to the Drain Water Heat Recovery (DWHR) device as an approach to reducing the energy used to produce hot wate in the home.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 5 - Recommendations
This is the 5th in a series of 15+ articles on the actual experiences of a home owners from participating in the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this installment, the home owner uncovers an error in the Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report which provided the first recommendation.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 4 - Recommendations
This is the 4th in a 15+ series of articles on a real home owner's experience from participating in the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this installment, the home owner shares the first recommendation together with his surprise of this recommendation being included in the Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report received on his house under this program.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 3 - EnerGuide Rating
This is the 3rd in a 15+ series of articles on a real home owner's experience with the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, the home owner continues his discussion of the EnerGuide rating received from the Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report as part of his participation in this program.

ecoENERGY Report - Part 2 - EnerGuide Rating
This is the 2nd of a 15+ series of articles from an actual home owner's experience with participating in the ecoENERGY Grant program.
In this article, the home owner shares the EnerGuide Rating on his home received from the Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report as part of participating in the ecoENERGY program.