Blog — Positive Energy

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Posts by Positive Energy
Demystifying Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are so common in our lives that we ordinarily fail to notice them. That said, if you live indoors chances are that you interact with a heat pump every day. This is because that refrigerator in your kitchen is a heat pump. Do you trust it to do its job reliably? Generally speaking, refrigerators are not all that exciting. They just do their jobs day after day. Like all machines, they can and do fail over time but overall your refrigerator is solid. In my own home I’ve replaced the dishwasher twice but still have the same fridge keeping my food fresh and ice frozen after 20 years. This reliability is due to the fact that at the core of your refrigerator are simple, reliable, inexorable laws of physics.

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Have we reached peak spray foam?

Are we currently experiencing peak spray foam? As of this writing in December 2019, foamed plastic insulations have become  defacto norm in our industry here in central Texas, but market forces and societal goals may be aligning to bring that reality to an end. 

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10 Years, 10 Services

Positive Energy has reached a milestone in its history. This week we are celebrating our 10th anniversary, while simultaneously celebrating a new office space, new staff, new services, and a rebranding moment with a new website. Please take a look around at the new site. Read about our new services. Get to know our new folks. Share in this wonderful moment with us.

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More Solar Heat Gain Than You Can Shake A Stick At

Guest Author, Jacob Zoske of Third Pig Construction in Atlanta, GA

During the April 2018 Building Science Philosophical Society meeting there was much discussion about the performance of different types of roof systems and how well they keep radiant heat out of our attics. While the group had a variety of ideas and opinions, no one was able to point to any hard data. Leaving the meeting with more questions than answers, I set out to do a small empirical study... in my backyard.

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Our Sponsored Homes - AIA Homes Tour 2018

Can you believe another year has passed already since the last AIA Austin Homes Tour? Time flies, amigos.

The AIA Austin Homes Tour is one of the most prestigious homes tours in the country. Year after year, we keep finding ourselves in the fortunate place of having a number of homes on the tour that we’ve worked on with our great clientele. Again this year we’re absolutely thrilled to sponsor two tour homes that we supported with our Integrated Mechanical Design service. Get your tickets to see these beautiful homes now and enjoy a weekend of great weather and even better architecture.

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COTE & PHAUS Event This Friday

COTE and PHAUS support local material and product reps that are making an effort to instigate change in the Building/Construction market in Austin. Want to know more about what they're doing? Please join us for a night of conversation about all things related to sustainability with these change agents!

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