A pedestrian-friendly, walkable community was created in Annapolis, Maryland, making getting around without cars much more feasible. Photo: Dan Burden. Click on image to enlarge.

Read more...

July, 2011 dust storm in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: Militec, Inc. Click on image to enlarge.

Read more...

Our pellet stove has DC fans and a kit that allows us to hook it up to a battery to power those fans in the event of a power outage. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Read more...

This exterior window shade in Florida blocks most of the solar gain, yet allows some view out. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Read more...

Passive solar design is a key element of creating resilient homes.

A passive solar home in Halifax, Vermont. High-SHGC, triple-glazed, south-facing windows were used to improve the direct-gain passive solar performance. Click on image to enlarge.

As I discussed in last week's blog, a resilient home is extremely well-insulated, so that it can be kept warm with very little supplemental heat--and if power or heating fuel is lost, for some reason, there won't be risk of homeowners getting dangerously cold or their pipes freezing. If we design and orient the house in such a way that natural heating from the sun can occur, we add to that resilience and further reduce the risk of the house getting too cold in the winter.

Passive solar heating

I had the good fortune of working in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a solar energy organization in the late-1970s, when the passive solar energy movement was just emerging. Northern New Mexico was the epicenter of research into passive solar--the effort, ironically, being led by Los Alamos National Laboratory, which, a generation earlier, had brought us the nuclear age.

It was an exciting time. The relationship between solar gain and thermal storage was becoming understood. It was discovered that very simple south-facing windows and high-mass walls and floors were not only far simpler than the very complex active solar heating systems that emerged (briefly) in the early 70s, but they also worked better.

Read more...

A resilient home is a highly energy-efficient home that will maintain livable conditions even during power outages or interruptions in heating fuel.

A superinsulated "Passive House" being built by Dan Whitmore in Seattle. These wall trusses provide about a foot of insulation. Photo: Dan Whitmore. Click on image to enlarge.

When most people think about resilience--resilience to storms or terrorism, for example--they think only about resilience during the event. Equally important, if not more important, I believe, is resilience in the aftermath of that event. Hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards, wildfires, tornadoes, and other natural disasters not only have an immediate impact, for which we may or may not be able to prepare, but they often have a much longer-term impact, usually through extended power outages.

The same goes for terrorist actions; some suggest that smarter terrorists of the future may target our energy infrastructure or hack into power system controls to wreak havoc (cyberterrorism).

In achieving resilience, I believe that our single most important priority is to ensure that our dwellings will maintain livable conditions in the event of extended power outages or interruptions in heating fuel. (I used to refer to this as "passive survivability," but I came to realize that that term was too negative or dire-sounding to get much buy-in.) Here in Vermont, a resilient home is one that will maintain temperatures of, say, 50 degrees Fahrenheit without supplemental heat.

Read more...

On August 28th Tropical Storm Irene flooded downtown Brattleboro, totally submerging Flat Street. Photo: Charlie Boswell. Click on image to enlarge.

As we look to create homes and communities that will keep us comfortable and safe in a world of climate change, terrorism, and other vulnerabilities, there are a handful of strategies that I group loosely under the heading of "smarter design." Some of these strategies come into play more at the land-use planning scale, or are relevant only in certain locations that are at risk of flooding, but all are worth thinking about when planning a new home.

Where we build

Following Hurricane Katrina's flooding of New Orleans in 2005, I got involved in an effort to guide the reconstruction that would occur--shifting it towards more sustainable practices. But the very idea of spending billions of dollars to rebuild in a place that is already below sea level at a time when sea levels are projected to rise seemed a mistake. I wrote at the time:

Read more...

Route 4 near Killington, Vermont was closed for more than a month due to flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. Photo: Lars Gange and Mansfield Heliflight. Click on image to enlarge.

Anyone who was in Vermont in late August of this year and witnessed the raging floodwaters from Hurricane Irene and the havoc they wreaked, gained an intimate view of the vulnerabilities we face from intense storms and flooding. Hundreds of miles of roadway were heavily damaged, dozens of bridges washed away, and some communities were cut off for weeks. Vermont is not alone. Throughout the Northeast, there was a 67% increase in heavy rainfall events (defined as the heaviest 1% of all rainfall events) from 1958 to 2007, according to the multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Climate scientists tell us to get used to it.

As the planet warms over the coming decades, precipitation will increase overall--due to greater evaporation from bodies of water and, thus, more water vapor in the atmosphere--though there will be significant regional variation. Even in areas that see a drop in precipitation (an expected trend in much of the western U.S., for example), the rain that does fall is expected to increasingly fall in deluges. So, we need to prepare for more Hurricane Irenes and the resultant flooding.

Read more...

Most of the area I biked through last spring was parched, including this ranch in New Mexico.

During my six-week bike ride last spring, I covered nearly 2,000 miles, most of it over land that hadn't seen a drop of rain since the previous fall; some of those areas--mostly in Texas--still haven't gotten significant precipitation. Farmers in Texas have had to plow their cotton under or slaughter their cattle. If the drought continues through the winter, power plants may have to start shutting down for want of cooling water.

Meanwhile, the Amtrak train that I was going to take home from Houston was cancelled due to extensive flooding in the Upper Midwest. And back in Vermont, at the end of August, we saw whole towns cut off by flooding and washed-out bridges and roads from Tropical Storm Irene. An early snow storm in October caused power outages in Connecticut and Massachusetts that lasted up to a week-and-a-half.

Welcome to climate change

Read more...

All alone on Route 118, approaching the Davis Mountains in West Texas.

Back in March I reported that I would be taking leave from this blog as I embarked on an eight-month sabbatical. With support from the Hanley Award I received last year, I was able to take an unpaid leave from BuildingGreen, Inc., for some rejuvenation, reflection, research, and writing.

I did all that, and my colleague, Tristan Roberts, kindly (and ably) took over this blog while I was out of commission. Now I'm back, invigorated by the time off and inspired by my work during the sabbatical.

In the academic world (with which I'm only peripherally involved), sabbaticals are intended to be times of recharging, but also opportunities to delve deeply into one's area of focus. A microbiologist might conduct research into the role of enzymes in regulating cell metabolism. A classics scholar might write a book synthesizing new perspectives on Greek society.

Read more...