Improving Energy Efficiency of Your Older Building

We exhibited at the 2009 Old House Fair sponsored by The Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia this weekend - this is the last of our home shows for the spring season. It is always affirming to meet so many people dedicated to caring for their older buildings.

As promised some energy conservation tips from the Traditional Building Show are below - check back every week for more knowledge gathered from the seminars.

1. Do an energy audit - contact your electrical company for information.
2. Change your light bulbs to either CFL or LED bulbs.
3. Install a Programmable Thermostat.
4. Unplug electronics when not in use - 40% of electricity is used when electronics are not in use.
5. Retrofit toilets and faucets to save water.
6. Use lighting controls - dimmers and usage.
7. Use ceiling fans to help circulate air both in the warm months and the colder months.
8. Upgrade appliances to the most efficient possible.

Traditional Building Show

Last weekend Chuck, Lois, Jonathan, and Danielle traveled to Boston for the Traditional Building Show. The Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference is sponsored by Restore Media and features a trade show with traditional building products and seminars featuring traditional building topics (both theory and practical). The focus of most of this spring's seminars where the green building movement within preservation - more posts about that later.

Chuck and Danielle presented 'Traditional Building Methods vs. Modern Approaches' on Saturday, March 14th. We have many seminars we have developed for various preservation groups - soon we will have a listing with description posted on our web site.

These pictures (above) where taken at the Boston Commons on our only adventure outside of the convention center (who ever designed the convention center, which is a combination of a mall, offices, restaurants, hotels, and the actual convention space, knew how to keep people entertained within the confines of the area). We did not realize celebrating for St. Patrick's Day was beginning over the the weekend - we had a hard time finding a restaurant with room. We did walk the Freedom Trail to Paul Revere's house and found a little Italian restaurant to eat in.

Once we have time to digest the various seminars we attended we will post summaries on our blog to share the knowledge we have acquired.

Historic Home Show at York

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we exhibited at the Historic Home Show at York. As part of the Historic Home section of the Mid-Atlantic Garden Show at the York Expo Center. We enjoyed connecting with people that are interested in maintaining and restoring their vintage properties. The availability of regional "historic" home shows helps building owners find many resources for their projects under one roof. We try to list as many as we can on the events page on our website - any information you can pass on is much appreciated.