In the 60's we started to see window units to cool individual rooms and large wooden evaporative cooling towers in back yards of people that could afford to air condition a whole house.

The systems were not very efficient, but utility rates were low and people seemed satisfied.

The typical Dallas new home was fairly leaky with little or no insulation. This seemed to be all right until the oil embargo. We realized that energy wasn't free and that we were buying most of what we used form foreign countries.

To put this in a proper time perspective, Jimmy Carter was President and Jimmy Carter is still a very active man. A few summers ago, I had the privilege to work along side him at a Habitat Blitz Build in Houston. I actually go to talk with him and he is sharp as a tack.

In an effort to cut energy use and out of pocket cost, two of our major industries started along a path of change. The automotive industry was controlled by a handful of companies and the actual change to mere efficient transportation was fairly easy to accomplish. The housing industry is another story. The top 500 home building companies in the United States account for less than 30% of the new homes built each year. We are a large industry made up of small builders. Industry wide changes under these conditions are difficult.

Builders attempted to lower utility bills and found that they were creating other problems. It became obvious that the house operated as a system. You could not just change one part, say insulation, and not also create good or bad changes in other parts of the system.

The study of the intersections of the sub systems of a house became a body of knowledge know as Building Science.

If a person wants to build a healthy, comfortable, durable, energy efficient home you must understand the whole house as a system.

Over the next nine programs Chris and I will explore the various subsystems of a home and how they relate to each other.

by: Jim Sargent, owner of:
Bentwood Custom Homes, Inc.
1214 Creek Circle
Waxahachie, Texas 75165
972-938-9997
www.bentwood.com