Agriculture is a tradition and held in respect- Compact towns with no sprawl
- No litter or abandoned cars
- Good food and bread everywhere
- No ostentatious “estates”
- Time tested and attractive architecture
- Walking trails everywhere
Browsing Posts published by neil
The picture at right represents some of the contrasts that we observed on our recent trip to Europe. Outside of the room, you can see a building that is anywhere from 100 to 300 years old. Every window has shutters which have been used for years to keep noise and light out.
In contrast our hotel room (and every hotel room we stayed in) was equipped with modern windows that make North American models look primitive. As expected, the windows open along the vertical hinge, but the cool feature is that with the twist of the handle, they can be made to tilt open leaving a secure ventilation gap at the top. When closed, the window seals like an airplane door, which makes for almost zero air leakage. The good seal was further appreciated, considering that the street is about 2 feet from the window.
First of all, Thanks to everyone who responded to our survey of last year’s AirScape whole house fan customers. We had an amazing 20% response rate, which indicates that you
either love us or hate us – we’ll pick the former 
There were a lot of glowing comments, but a survey is not an exercise in self congratulations. We take very seriously the few people who were unhappy with their purchases. What we want is to bring to zero, the number of people with unmet expectations. Our job is to make sure that you get a quality product, but also make sure that you understand the power and the limitations of our particular technology.
Now, for the mandatory post image. Here is the latest map of our sales. Every zip or postal code that had an AirScape whole house fan purchase gets a marker. Look at that – the Canadians are buying. So are the Floridians.
“When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail”
What a wonderfully simple way to describe much of our world. I am reminded of this whenever I see people working on the “energy” problem. Software people clearly know, that if only we wired everything up and monitored our energy use, the rest of the problem would be trivial. Economists clearly have the upper hand, because they can describe carbon trading as the sure fire method to reduce carbon output, increase energy efficiency, and still have economic growth. Photovoltaic manufacturers, electric car builders, and wind farm developers are among the many queuing up at the public feeding trough.
Nothing wrong with any of those solutions. Just bear in mind the aphorism.
By the way, our hammer is a whole house fan.
Our government program to encourage home buying is coming to a close. Was it as good idea ? Certainly, it was for real estate agents! At least with the “cash for clunkers” program, the country as a whole (possibly) benefited by encouraging production of new, efficient cars and the retirement of low MPG cars.
Why didn’t we do the same thing for houses ? OK, not the same thing, but how about this idea (in case we’re crazy enough to exend it): Pay out the $8,000 directly to buyers of newly built homes. For buyers of used houses, put the cash towards sealing, and insulating, and generally making the old house efficient. Either way, contractors and their employees are working.
I will name this complicated economic concept “Have something left after the party’s over” , with the other very, very complicated concept (especially not understood by bankers) “Spread the wealth”.
