By Karen Chan

We’re getting our building-science-geek on this week with tools borrowed from the Pacific Energy Center (PEC) Tool Lending Library. We’ve got our hands on a Solar Pathfinder, humidity and temperature meters, a low-e detector, a HOBO datalogger, a window energy profiler, a 15 amp current transducer, a laser rangefinder, a Kill-A-Watt plug-load meter, an illuminance meter, a Suneye 210 with GPS, an occupancy/light logger, and a ThermaCAM infrared camera.

Infrared Camera Spot Laser Thermometer Low-E Detector (true, we have single-pane glazing, but we wanna try it)

These tools can support our efforts with data-driven post-occupancy evaluations and could even come in handy during site visits and construction administration. We’ll let you know how it goes and if we have any interesting findings with this gear in hand.

In other HMC Earth Week news, we started a microgarden today.

Starting Seeds for our Microgarden

We’re planting:

Gourmet Baby Greens Mesclun Lettuce (Latuca sativa)
French Breakfast Radish (Raphanus sativus)
Easter Egg Blend Radish (Raphanus sativus)
Roquette Arugula (Eruca vesicaria sativa)
Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Genovese Basil (Albahaca genovesa)
Lime Basil (Ocimum basilicum americanum)

We’re also in the midst of a Design Challenge to come up with a solution to house our indoor vegetables and herbs after they outgrow their grow-kit incubator. Stay tuned!