You are currently browsing articles tagged energy efficiency.
The Big Wall of Windows
While the concept is taking off in Europe, where over 10,000 passive houses have been built, there are still very few in the States. I have posted before about Nabih Taleb's passive house remodel in Berkeley, and I've heard about a few more which I'll be posting soon. But this month the Taunton Press's is featuring an article on America's first "passive house."
A commercial real estate development (image by MK Media Productions, CC 2.0 licensed)
The , also known as the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, "showing" that building green is not a winner in terms of payback. Apparently timed to coincide with a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on improving building energy code standards, the report found, according to , that:
A 50 percent energy improvement beyond federal standards is technically impossible. A 30 percent target is achievable, but only by adding a million-dollar solar system that could take up to 100 years to pay for itself
Menlo Park Train Station
Just about two weeks ago, my friend Matt Harris, an architect with a green building practice, sent me an email:
The City of Menlo Park has this and they are looking for community input. Would you be interested in formulating some kind of response that would of course include our plug for passive house initiatives. Maybe we can get them to include some passive home or even passive building information or plans or guidelines in the Climate action plan. They have already cited "commercial buildings" as a target energy hog in the city for action in the action plan.
Nabih Tahan's passive house remodel in Berkeley
Last night South Bay Professional Guild hosted , a Berkeley-based architect who was recently featured in a . Nabih discussed the passive house concept and how it is being applied in Germany and the rest of Europe, as well as his experience building Low Energy Houses (Niedrigenergiehaus - the generation of homes before the passive houses) in Austria and remodeling his conventional house in the Berkeley flatlands into a passive house.
We get a lot of kale in our CSA box of veggies (image by terren in Virginia, CC 2.0 license)
There's a perception that green is more expensive and less convenient, and, truth to say, that's sometimes true. It is more expensive to buy your groceries at Whole Foods. And putting solar panels on your roof doesn't really save you money for many years, if at all, (although it's still less than buying a new car).
But on the other hand, we know that there are lots of green things you can do that actually save money - replacing your incandescent lights with compact fluorescents is one familiar example. And if you're building a house, putting in lots more insulation than is required by code can save a huge amount of both money and energy, while making your home more comfortable.
Sometimes it's small changes that can flip this perception. I have a recent example from my own life that brought this home to me (so to speak):
Cannon Beach zero-net energy house
In lieu of a longer post today, I thought I'd provide links to examples of some of the amazing homes people are building today to achieve zero net energy:
Beautiful sunset (photo by Santa Rosa OLD SKOOL, CC 2.0 license)
This is the first post in a series on zero-net energy homes. Over the course of the series I will be covering all aspects of this topic, from the technology and knowledge available today, to the changes needed in technology, building codes, trade skills, design approaches, and will to achieve the goal of all new homes eventually being zero net energy.
Available: Home with free electric (photo by Kainet, CC 2.0 Sharealike license)
From MIT's Technology Review comes , about a recent report from Deutsche Bank on the economic benefits of investing in new energy projects:
It argues that it's possible to address challenges related to climate change, energy security, and the financial crisis at the same time by investing in four specific areas: energy-efficient buildings, electric power grids, renewable power, and public transportation. The report cites figures that suggest investing in these areas creates more jobs than investing in conventional energy sources because much of the old energy infrastructure is already in place. It says that "a $100 billion investment in energy and efficiency would result in 2 million new jobs, whereas a similar investment in old energy [such as coal or natural gas] would only create around 540,000 jobs."
