Cut Your Energy Bills Now: 150 Smart Ways to Save Money and Make Your Home More Comfortable and Green

This book is the best value out there. Because it explains in simple, easy to understand terms the most essential aspects that every person who lives in a dwelling should know about the way our choices about energy affect our homes. Get a copy for all your friends and they will thank you for years to come!

With so much emphasis on energy saving and global warming these days, this book is a great reference for the average homeowner. Written in simple terms with easy-to-understand graphics, anyone can easily understand the causes of heat loss and cold air infiltration, and the solutions. Bruce Harley shows once again why he's one of the foremost experts in building science and energy conservation in America.

I own about a dozen DIY books on weatherproofing/weathersealing, interior air quality (IAQ), humidity, moisture, and so forth. Harley's "Insulate and Weatherize" was my hands-down favorite purchase in that category. The writing and photos and diagrams were all intelligent and precise, and Harley's knowledge is several notches above the other authors'. He foresaw issues and problems that our top local HVAC consultant was clueless about. Priceless. "Cut Your Energy" is like his earlier book in all those ways, but with a different emphasis. There is overlap with the earlier book when it comes to things like hunting-and-destroying air leaks, but most of "Cut Your Energy" is new material. I'd already read a lot in this area, so I knew maybe 45% of the stuff in Cut Your Energy. But the other 55% was worth its weight in gold. This is an oversize book with tons of detailed text, photos, diagrams, lists of resources and contact info, appendices, and -- our favorite -- "energy-saving" myths. [One example: We had assumed that we should seal off the HVAC vents in unused bedrooms and closets to save energy. Not always true, per Harley.] Unless you're an expert already, I think this is the book to get.

Detailed with lots of photographs for the average person. Systematic for doing a thorough tightening up of your home or office. Does not include a HERS energy audit or a Dulley Energy Efficiency Index inventory, but pretty much include most other things.