Introducing: Living Efficiently With Tom

• Insulating Hot Water Pipes
• Air Sealing Electrical Outlets
• Installing a Programmable Thermostat
• Air Sealing With Caulk and Sprayfoam
• Efficient Lighting
• Crawl Space Insulation

The idea behind this blog is to talk about regular things regular folks can do in their homes without big investments. I'll be writing about various energy efficiency-related projects I'm undertaking in the house my wife and I recently bought in suburban Washington, D.C. Hopefully it can help inspire readers to think about ways they can make their homes more energy-efficient.

But first, some caveats

I'm not a professional contractor. I'm not an engineer. Professionally, I mostly spend my days sitting at a computer researching energy efficiency from a federal policy perspective.

So while I might be able to claim some expertise in legislative language, loan guarantee programs, tax credits, or things like that, I'm approaching D.I.Y. home improvement more or less as a 'regular guy' – an enthusiastic regular guy maybe, but not one with an unusual amount of technical knowledge about this sort of practical stuff.

Because of this, some of the activities I describe might not necessarily be the best way to do something. But at the same time, I'm not doing much that most regular folks couldn't do in their own homes, with a little help from how-to guides online and in print.

I also hope to get some dialogue going on here. Maybe you've done some of the projects I'm talking about – and maybe you can offer suggestions on ways to improve on what I've done. We now have a commenting fuction up and running, so drop me a note and perhaps we can get some conversations going about these topics.

Who am I?

I'm a senior research associate on the Alliance's Policy & Research Team. I mostly work on issues related to federal government energy efficiency policies, including, among other topics, tax credits, financing, the electrical grid, and program measurement & verification.

Prior to coming to the Alliance, I was a policy analyst at the National Commission on Energy Policy. I was born and raised in Washington, D.C., though at various times have found myself in North Carolina, western Maryland, Ohio and Atlanta, and for quite a few years I lived in central England (where building techniques and appliances are surprisingly different from this side of the Atlantic).