The scaffolding is down and progress is being made on what could be the first Passive House in New York, according to Curbed NY. The mixed-use project is located in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn at 174 Grand Street and designed by Loadingdock5, an architectural studio from the same neighborhood.
Colorado-based Ice Energy today announced an infusion of Series C financing in the form of $24 million, according to a press release. The company will use this money to support the deployment of utility-scale distributed energy storage products and a 53-megawatt project in California. Ice Energy also wants to explore new products and expand to a wider set of customers.
Mey and Boaz Kahn, Studio Kahn, submitted this ecooler screen for iida 2010 and took home third prize. Ecooler is a concept hollow tile that connects with other tiles, creating a wall of water-filled ceramics. It's intended to provide an alternative option for cooling internal spaces by seepage and evaporation during the day, according to DesignBoom.
Today, the most viewed and emailed article on the NY Times is one on Passive House, "Can we Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?" The concept of Passive House has been growing in popularity over the last eight years or so, especially in green building circles. These homes are ultra energy-efficient and, with some on-site energy generation, can be energy neutral or energy producing.
The folks at GreenovationTV and Old House Web are working on a net-zero energy renovation of a 100-year-old home. Through the process, they're posting helpful videos, including this one on insulating uninsulated spaces. This kind of information is on the money for anyone living in an existing home, especially if you're like me and you own an old house from 1958!
A guest post by Anne Maertens from EnergySavvy.com.
Have you started closing your windows at night? That’s a good sign that it’s time to start getting your home ready for fall. An important part of your fall preparations should be weatherizing your home so you can enjoy a comfortable abode without having to sign over your paychecks to your natural gas, propane or oil providers.
This month, Modular builder Keiser Homes and architecture firm Kaplan Thompson Architects launched the net zero energy series of modular homes called the "Modular Zero Collection." These homes have been designed to use the smallest amount of energy possible and, if purchasers opt for solar hot water and solar photovoltaics, can produce as much energy as is consumed on an annual basis.
Plumen 001 has been shooting around the internet today (i.e., Good, Morin, Re-Nest). The designer CFL saves 80% on energy bills and lasts eight times longer than a regular incandescent. It's an 11-watt bulb that outputs 680 lumens with a color temperature of 2700k. But it's not available in the US until next year, and Plumen 002 is in the works. In any event, Plumen seems perfect for the exposed lighting situation pictured above and below.
Earlier this summer, GE launched the first product in its Brillion suite of home energy management solutions, the Nucleus. This is a data storage device that collects household electricity cost and use data and gives it to homeowners via computer and smart phones. Nucleus is expected to be available for consumer purchase in early 2011 for the price of $149-199.
Let’s just say you need to know how much power a certain device is using. You can do that with this new product from Belkin. Conserve Insight, available for pre-order on Amazon for $29.99, was designed to help consumers conserve energy. The energy monitor shows you how much a device costs in watts, dollars, and carbon dioxide using preloaded or custom rate information. Belkin also has three other Conserve gadgets available for pre-order should you have the need: Smart AV, Valet, and Socket.
