Geothermal (ground-source) vs air-source heat pump ROI

There are many factors that make determining return on investment for something as complicated and unique as a home’s HVAC system difficult. I was looking forward to this video from Matt because I knew that he had opted for a Water Furnace ground-source (aka geothermal) heat pump setup. We’re opting for air-source for our passive house, probably a Mitsubishi Hyper-Heat […]

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Considering Home Energy Storage

We recently purchased a tear-down with the goal of building a new passive house on the lot. Naturally, there will be will be a massive solar array on the house, and probably on the detached garage as well. Picking a panel fairly easy because the differences in PV (photovoltaic) products seems to mostly come down to warranty period. Energy storage […]

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UL Certification is a Band-Aid®

Safety certification in the US is more complicated than it should be. A big part of this is that Underwriters Laboratory (UL) plays a dual role in the ecosystem. I recently got in an extended discussion with a UL Supremacist around this, after I said something was UL Certified when that wasn’t technically true, because UL is a Band-Aid®, and […]

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Setting Guardrails?

One of the things I wonder, and worry, about as a content-creator (ugh, I hate that term) is how much responsibility is there to set and communicate the limitations/considerations/disclaimers around the things we create. Is there a duty to set guardrails? If so, what are those limits and is the value in the effort or the durability?

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