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Wasting energy in your home is like throwing away money. You can spend thousands on heaters, air-conditioning and new windows, but poor insulation and outdated appliances can sap any savings and make for an uncomfortable home. Here’s how to perform your own energy audit and save a bit of money.

If you don’t already know the systems of your home including heating and cooling, water and electrical, now’s a great time to learn.

Make Sure Everything Is Insulated

Shoddy insulation is the worst offender for home energy loss. It’s not uncommon for homebuilders to take shortcuts when installing insulation, and they often install the minimum amount required.

Start in your attic and check for gaps around pipes and ductwork and fill them using expanding foam. If you have gaps around your fireplace, make sure you use non-combustible foam sealant. Make sure your attic floor is insulated but don’t block your attic vents. You need to maintain attic air circulation to prevent ice dams in the winter and to allow hot air to escape in the summer.

Next, check your basement for insulation. Wall insulation is better than ceiling insulation. This makes a more comfortable living space and adds value to your home. Here are more tips for insulating your basement walls.

If you’re really interested in finding cool spots in your floors and walls, invest in a thermal leak detector. It uses infrared sensors to measure surface temperatures. This one from Black & Decker is $32 on Amazon. A step up is a thermal imaging camera which is much more accurate and provides a visual hot and cool view.

Check for Air Leaks

Drafts are obvious drains on your home energy system, but you can seal them with caulk and weather stripping.

Check for air leaks around doors and windows. If a leak isn’t obvious from the inside, then inspect the window from outside. Replace worn door sweeps or install automatic bottom sweeps that will last longer.

Air leaks are also common along baseboards and at the edge of flooring. This could signal an exterior wall that isn’t fully insulated. A thermographic or infrared inspection will tell you if insulation has been properly installed and if it isn’t then you may need to insulate the wall using blown-in insulation.

Replace Heating and Cooling Filters

Regularly replace filters in air conditioning systems and forced air furnaces. Dirty filters cause unnecessary stress on these appliances and they will consume more energy.

If your AC unit and furnace are more than 15-20 years old, consider replacing them with Energy Star rated units. Save your receipt for a tax credit!

Buy Energy-Efficient Appliances

Outdated washers, dryers, refrigerators, and dishwashers all drain more energy and work less efficiently than new models. As with your heating and cooling system, upgrade to Energy Star rated appliances, which will save you a significant amount of money over the long term.

Keep an eye out for "vampire" electronics. These are electronics that use electricity even when they seem turned off or are in standby mode. This Forbes article lists the top home energy hogs, and the digital cable box is number one. Other offenders are computers and home office equipment. Put these devices on a power strip and power them all down at once at the end of the day. This tool helps calculate how much you pay for "energy vampires".

Switch to CFL or LED Lights

The government has new lighting standards that require light bulbs to use 25% less energy. CFLs and LEDs meet this requirement and they are now much more affordable, making an instant impact on your electric bill. They are also more convenient to use, since they last much longer than incandescent bulbs.

The only drawback to these alternative light bulbs is the color. New bulbs from Cree and Phillips offer a soft white that’s very similar to traditional incandescent lighting.

You can get pretty far by yourself, but if you want a more thorough home energy audit performed by a professional, do a search on the Residential Energy Services Network to find a home energy pro in your area. The long-term savings will likely be well worth the cost.

Photos from USDA, Jack Amick, Rob Ireton, Charles & Hudson.

via Lifehacker
How to Do Your Own Home Energy Audit and Save Money Each Month

20th Century Fox has released the first official teaser trailer for the reboot film directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle) and based on the Fantastic Four. You know what? It actually looks pretty good. This trailer features the…
via MightyMega
First Teaser Trailer for Fantastic Four Reboot

Michelin and Bridgestone have been racing to take the air out of everyone’s tires—but in a good way. Both companies have been developing open-air wheels that will never puncture or deflate, and while they’ve mostly seen use in research and military vehicles to date, John Deere will finally offer a ride-on mower that uses Michelin’s see-through Tweels.

Billed as a sort of tire/wheel hybrid, the Tweel uses a reinforced outer tread that’s connected to a central hub with a series of rubber spokes that flex and give just like a real tire. A tire made entirely of rubber would be just as durable, but the rider would feel every bump and obstacle. So the open-air design of the Tweel strikes a better balance between comfort, shock absorption, and durability.

But John Deere isn’t slapping these new tires on the consumer-friendly ride-ons you’ll find at Sears. The first mower with a pair of Michelin’s Tweels is the $8,000+ commercial-grade ZTrack 900 Airless-Tire Mower that’s targeted at those who cut lawns—gigantic lawns—for a living. Even when used on a daily basis the Tweels last about two to three times as long as conventional air-filled tires, and they’re actually better designed to tackle larger obstacles like curbs, providing more stability for the rider as they’re traversed. [John Deere via Popular Science]

via Gizmodo
John Deere’s New Ride-On Mower Is One of the First To Have Airless Tires

Posture can affect a lot of things, including our confidence and how other people feel about us. Teach yourself good posture by practicing these exercises from the Army Field Manual. Good posture is a habit that pays off over time.

The Army Field Manual features ten exercises that require you to move in a variety of different directions and ways. I found performing Exercise 1, which involves a lot of arm swinging, to be particularly relieving when I get out of my seat. Some of these exercises are pretty conspicuous and may be difficult to do in a suit or formal pants, but a lot of them can still be performed in the workplace.

These exercises are great to get you out of your seat. While you’re in your seat, you can do yourself a favor by fixing your computer hunch and other posture problems.

WWII Workout Week: Posture Training | The Art of Manliness

via Lifehacker
Improve Your Posture with these Exercises from the Army Field Manual

via Dilbert
Dilbert 2015-01-26

There’s a reason "The Walking Dead" is set in the South; because watching a bunch of us Yankees trying to load 9mm rounds into a .45 or accidentally ejecting the magazine every time we try to turn the safety off would probably not be that compelling to watch.

Gun culture varies widely in the United States, depending on everything from local laws to regional history to personal upbringing. In NYC most firearms are illegal, thus law-abiding citizens here grow up with no familiarity with them; but I’ve met folks down South for whom owning and carrying multiple guns at all times is natural, and for whom firearms instructions was a part of their childhood.

The unnamed vet (that’s veterinarian, not veteran) behind YouTube channel Demolition Ranch clearly falls into this latter category. His vehicle-based "everyday carry," or EDC video below skirts the line between dead-serious and tongue-in-cheek and packs several surprises. Regional differences being what they are, I’m sure Northerners will find it eye-opening while Southerners will think it old hat:

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An EDC Video Full of Surprises: This Man’s Truck is a Rolling Armory

Even old HGST disks stand up well under punishing conditions.
via Ars Technica
Hard disk reliability examined once more: HGST rules, Seagate is alarming

Scientists at the University of Rochester have created a metal that is so extremely hydrophobic that the water bounces on it as if it were repelled by a magic force field. Instead of using chemical coatings they used lasers to etch a nanostructure on the metal itself. It will not wear off, like current less effective methods.

The applications can be revolutionary: From the construction of airplane surfaces—which will avoid water freezing of the fuselage—to non-stick pans to phones to computers to TVs to cars to whatever you can imagine made of metal. They are also thinking of applying the technique to create 100-percent efficient water recollection systems in underdeveloped countries and the creation of latrines in areas where water is not abundant enough to allow for effective cleaning.

But it gets even better: The lead scientist says that ‘the structures created by their laser on the metals are intrinsically part of the material surface’ so they will not disappear over time, like current chemical coatings do.

Their research paper says they made the metals using a "powerful and precise laser-patterning technique that creates an intricate pattern of micro- and nanoscale structures to give the metals their new properties." According to Chunlei Guo, professor of optics at Rochester the effect is amazing:

The material is so strongly water-repellent, the water actually gets bounced off. Then it lands on the surface again, gets bounced off again, and then it will just roll off from the surface.

Here’s Guo in a explanatory video along with the co-writer of the study, Anatoliy Vorobyev, who is a professor at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics.

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via Gizmodo
New amazing metal is so hydrophobic it makes water bounce like magic