Blog

Have you been told that you need a blower door test?  If you have it’s probably because it is required by the building code official for new construction or a major renovation. It can also be a key component of an existing building energy audit, an energy model...

Next up: Andre Desjarlais and Achillies Karagiozis. "What happens at a WUFI seminar..." Andre Desjarlais is the Program Manager for the Building Envelope Systems Research Program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His proficiency in building envelope systems and...

Better Building Works would not be where we are today if not for the research and technological developments made by experts in the building science community. We greatly appreciate those individuals who strive to make the world a better place, and want to publicly...

Forensics: "scientific tests or techniques used in connection with the detection of crime." If Ted Danson and his rowdy crew of crime scene investigators have taught us anything, it is that a good forensics team can save the day. Forensics plays an important role in...

As homeowners we go the extra mile to avoid letting danger into our homes, but what about the dangers that are already inside? In 2017 the U.S. Fire Administration recorded over 370,000 residential fires, stating that almost 10% were caused by appliance and electrical...

People need to be healthy.  Whole empires have been brought down by sickness.  Disease and illness undermine other efforts of society — sapping our resources, shortening our lives, impeding our children’s development, lowering the productivity of our workforce, and...

We’ve all been feeling the heat. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the July heatwave led to higher nationwide peak demand than last year – 704 gigawatts at 6:00 pm on July 19 – about 20% more than a typical summer day.  In the mid-Atlantic, peak...

It’s natural to assume that tailpipes and smokestacks are the main source of greenhouse gases. Transportation and manufacturing do account for 35% of our carbon emissions.  But, we start to question our “tailpipe intuitions” when we learn that agriculture weighs in at...