Category Archives: energy

Heating the Homestead

Posted on January 4, 2013 by jkmcintyre

Most of the time we heat our house from the electricity grid.  Yawn, I know. Passive solar does the trick on rare, glorious sunny Seattle days, but the rest of the time we use an efficient ductless heat pump for … Continue reading →

Posted in energy, geek | 1 Comment

Keeping the Hot Tub Hot

Posted on March 15, 2012 by jkmcintyre

This fall I wrote about our insulation woes and our high electric bill.  Although we built storm windows, “…our electric bill did not go down appreciably. But that is another story…” This is that other story. We have lived in … Continue reading →

Posted in energy, update | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Warm Fuzzy of Insulation

Posted on October 17, 2011 by jkmcintyre

Last month we got a letter from our electric utility.  We are at the “100% percentile for electricity use among neighbours with houses similar to ours”. That’s the bad end of the spectrum. Of course, we don’t have any neighbours … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, energy, Sustainability, winter | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment