Despite my expo-only access, I haven't had a lot of time for product-crawling.

Drying clothes indoors accounts for approximately 6% if all household electricity in the U.S.

Last week, we took a look at how to save energy and water with clothes washing. This week we'll turn our attention to drying, which accounts for approximately 6% of all household electricity consumption in the U.S.

When I found out about a week ago that I was going to Greenbuild after all — on an exhibitor registration — I didn't think Al Gore and Sheryl Crow were in the cards for me. I was prepared to accept that. Then folks at Cosentino North America came through with an invitation to their private box — and it turned out that not only did that invitation get me into a private box in the stadium, it was a pass onto the field level.

I've gotta say, I love visiting factories, especially those that make products I've been writing about for years.

I'm really tired. Does low-voltage electric resistance heat actually make sense? Under the right circumstances, it seems like it might. I see the people from Step Warmfloor at Greenbuild every year, but I never talk to them — frankly, because I have a bias against the concept of their product.

After in excess of two hours' heat source contact, Timbersil has suffered some charring. The control structure behind it has burned completely. Ran into the good folks from Timbersil at their booth. (You may recall that we like Timbersil an awful lot.)

Greenbuild starts today. The company's not sending me this year. That is, they weren't until a few days ago. I was in Almeria, Spain, at Cosentino's offices when I got the news. (I intend to post about that Spain jaunt after I get myself dug out; but right now, I'm sitting in BWI waiting on a connecting flight to Phoenix, and Greenbuild.)

The Whirlpool Duet -- the latest washer to be used at the Wilson residence.

Earlier this year, Vermont became the first state to approve feed-in tariffs. The state has a goal of producing 20% of its electricity using renewable energy by 2017..

Vermont made history last week, becoming the first state to offer "feed-in tariffs" for electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

The low energy use of the first Passivhaus in Bremen, Germany, is surprising, especially since the house has neither solar collectors, nor a PV array, nor a boiler.

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>Insulating your water heater is a very effective way of reducing heat loss.