The latest news on low CO2 communitities
This house was retrofitted using Passive House principles; its energy use is being monitored. (Photo by Nabih Tahan) I recently went to the ACI national conference in San Francisco and heard a very interesting talk by Jeremy Fisher and Brennan Less of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). They are studying deep energy retrofits in [...]
On April 27, The New York Times published an article about the negative reaction in suburban neighborhoods to the installation of solar panels on utility poles. Most Americans are very spoiled about their energy availability. Would the people complaining about having to see a solar panel on a nearby utility pole rather have rolling blackouts, because [...]
Author Steve Mann wrote a great article for Home Energy magazine on the the 2010 North American Passive House Conference in Portland last November, along with a Passive House primer and a list of resources for getting up to speed on the Passive House approach. Here’s what Mann had to say about Recreating the American [...]
Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) and the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) are collaborating in an effort to synchronize standards, modeling, quality assurance, and quality control for low energy homes and buildings. According to RESNET’s newsletter, the agreement provides for PHIUS to become an affiliate member of RESNET PHIUS will adopt the RESNET HERS Index [...]
450 architects, a Green Business Award-winning community-based design studio and consulting practice located in San Francisco, is committed to timeless architecture and advocates for a sustainable future. Join them in celebrating 15 years of creating beautiful, soulful buildings that exceed their clients’ expectations and are in harmony with the environment and community. Tuesday, February 15, [...]
Mary James spoke recently with Sarah Evans, owner of a Passive House that was completed last May in Salem, Oregon. The home is profiled in Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach. How has the experience of living in your new Passive House been? Any surprises? We had to learn how to use our [...]
Rick Milburn of Solar Knights Construction, one of the builders showcased in Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach, was featured in Natural Home Magazine this month. Says Milburn about Passive Houses: “People think these things are complicated,” Milburn says, “but they’re supersimple.” Read Aggressively Passive: Building Homes to the Passive House Standard.
Günter Pazen, Passive House window pioneer and owner of Enersign windows, spoke with Mary James about his commitment to building better windows and the development of his business. What prompted you to start manufacturing energy-efficient windows? I started in the window business about 40 years ago, but I started seriously thinking about making more efficient [...]
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward. To read [...]
Exclusive interview with Dr. Wolfgang Feist, scientific director of the Passivhaus Institut (PHI) in Darmstadt, Germany, and now also professor of building physics at Innsbruck University
