The HTRC – Page 66 – The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

Monitoring your Electricity Usage with MyUsage and Smart Meters

While catching up on my reading I came across an interesting piece in the Alabama Living magazine & that was that Cullman Electric Cooperative was now allowing one to view their daily electricity usage online. They have joined up with MyUsage.com that provides this service for 41 different utilities, located in 13 different states (3 […]

Safety Sunday: Dig safely

Last Sunday as I was driving into town – there sat the water company fixing a water main break on one of the back roads. At the time I didn’t think much about it (except for feeling a little sorry for them), until this ad ran in the local papers not 3 days later. It […]

RIP: The Garbage Disposal Unit

Welcome back, to our monthly series of articles where we figuratively put certain products, bad practices, myths and misconceptions to rest. This last month, we were pleasantly surprised to be featured in one of the five primary sections on Daily 5 Remodel (Great resource for anyone involved in remodeling industry – if you haven’t checked it […]

Let’s Blog Off: What kind of Legacy will you leave?

Ahhh, well here we go again, with another Let’s Blog Off, this time on what is legacy… As is our custom, we will be linking to all those participating in the week’s Lets Blog Off at the end of the article, and with such an eclectic group of bloggers and viewpoints, this ought to be […]

Safety Sunday: Snakes & Scorpions

Wow, has it only been three months since we addressed the issues with the wintertime & everyone’s beloved Raccoons, Squirrels, and Mice? Well as the temperatures start rising, we are going to introduce our next two unwanted guests that will be making a comeback, namely snakes & scorpions. Prevention: If possible, avoid areas where they […]

Advanced HVAC Training for Raters

Ok, I admit it, this post is about a week late as I took this class last Friday after completing the two Day ENERGY STAR® V.3 Training. This is what I would refer to as a one off class – that is it is only offered by Energy Vanguard, covers the basics listed below, and is […]

Safety Sunday: Top Ten Tips for Using Power Tools to Trim Shrubs & Trees

As we mentioned in our February Homeowner Maintenance article, “Many plants are now dormant which makes this the best time to plant new ones or trim existing ones.” While it appeared that no one in the country would be doing that this earlier this month, Punxsutawney Phil got it right this year, when he predicted […]

Day 2: ENERGY STAR V.3 Training

Well today was the last day for the mandatory class, where we finally went through the final three checklists. We started the day off with a RemRate file & simply told to get it into compliance with the new version of ENERGY STAR. As a quick tip for any fellow raters, do not forget about […]

Day 1: ENERGY STAR V.3 Training

This week brings me back to the great city of Atlanta, this time for 2 quick classes. The first class is a mandatory 2-day class for all ENERGY STAR® raters who wish to continue with the program after January 1st of 2012. Based on my schedule for this year, it was simply best to get […]

RRP Updates – 300 days, Alabama, and a Request from the EPA

In case you are looking for a reason to celebrate, February 16th, marks the 300th day anniversary that the RRP went into effect. If you happen to live in Alabama, I can pretty much guarantee you, that you are probably livid at this moment, as I will explain in a few minutes. If you are […]