By Chad Floyd*
I would like to be able to state that I became an architect to save the planet from wasteful, polluting buildings – the built world accounts for some 40 percent of the greenhouse gases we produce – but the truth is my fondest desire was to become a thespian. As the theater is an iffy business and my best stage feature, a lively head of hair, was rapidly waning, I turned to a more sensible alternative: architecture school.
Rebecca Guymon and Joe Turner are the owners of Breezeway House – the first certified Passive House in Utah and in the western United States. They're unique because only a handful of these ultra-insulated, airtight, low-energy homes exist in the United States. So I asked Turner to share his experience building and living in a Passive House and he was kind enough to respond. This is mandatory reading for anyone interested in owning a Passive House.
Whether you're looking to replace a drafty fireplace or utilize zone heating during the cold winter, perhaps an energy-efficient stove from Morsø should be considered and researched for your application. The company offers several models -- small, large, traditional, or contemporary -- that are built in a low-impact manner with recycled materials.
Today Lighting Science Group announced that it has become the first U.S. company to domestically manufacture one million LED bulbs in less than a year. With the announcement, LSG also unveiled a new omnidirectional A19 LED bulb as the one-millionth bulb. The 60-watt replacement is 75% more efficient than an incandescent bulb and dimmable, mercury-free, and relatively affordable.
If you're looking for long-lasting, energy-efficient lighting, 60-watt replacement LEDs are on the way to big box retailers. These lights screw in just like typical incandescents, but they use less than a quarter of the energy and have no mercury, unlike CFLs.
ThinkEco just announced that it's taking orders from business clients for its flagship product called the Modlet, which is short for modern outlet. Modlet is a smart outlet that monitors power usage and disconnects from the power to save energy when the plugged-in gadget isn't in use.
In other words, Modlet was designed to help reduce and prevent plug-load electricity waste. The smart outlet requires no time to install and a network of Modlets can be monitored for real-time consumption data, according to ThinkEco.
ThinkEco says companies that install Modlets site-wide can achieve reductions of anywhere from 35-80% in power consumed by each plugged-in device, resulting in up to a 10% reduction in overall electricity costs.
Today Joe Biden and the Obama Administration unveiled a new program with low-cost energy audits, federally-insured PowerSaver loans, and a new Home Energy Score, according to Wendy Koch of the USA Today. Details of the program are available now at HomeEnergyScore.gov, which includes an interactive graphic explaining the new score based on a 1 to 10 scale.
Sally Kuchar, editor of Curbed SF, noticed these Boost Boxes at the Green Festival in San Francisco the other weekend. The company that makes them, Boost Home, put a lot of work into making dead-simple, unintimidating boxes to help people increase their energy, water, and money savings. Boxes include products, instructions, audit information, and other goodies. Check out a few:
You may not be in a position to design and build a new green home with cutting-edge design, techniques, and products. Most people aren’t. But it's definitely a good idea to invest in your existing home to make it more energy efficient, healthy, and green. That’s what I’m doing with my old place built in 1958. Probably the first place to start is with a home energy assessment or energy audit, explained in this video.
Colorado-based Ec Manufacturing started making structural insulated panels (SIPs) about a year and a half ago. The company was studying 2009 building code and thinking about how to innovate their products, when someone decided the building industry could use a thermally broken lumber material. That led to the creation of rSTUD.
