Florida

Hi Everyone:

I'm back from vacation. Although we all had a great time, vacations always seem to end much to soon. While on vacation though, I unintentionally discovered something that really mystified me. But I am getting ahead of myself. First the back story is that 4 of us went to Florida for some much needed R&R. While there, our friends wanted to check out some retirement homes, condos and townhouses. I believe that we visited about 12. All of the homes etc. were built between 1997 to 2006. So they should have been built with efficiency in mind. Not so fast with that kind of thinking.

Every single house, condo and townhouse had single paned windows, this included the windows in doors and the sliding glass doors. When we visited stores and restaurants etc., they also had single paned windows and doors. Even the resort that we stayed at used single paned windows and sliders. On mildly chilly mornings, we could see condensation on the windows.

Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that having double paned windows in a warm climate can also save a lot of money by lowering one's air conditioning needs which in turn lowers the electricity bills. I really couldn't believe that all these recently built homes etc. were built with not enough attention paid to energy savings. What an absolute shame.

Obviously, common sense was not used in the designing and constructing of all these structures. Money was most likely the determining factor in choosing single paned over double paned windows. Just think about all the energy wasted. It is mind boggling. Again, what a shame!

Common sense rules and inefficient buildings don't.

Til next week.