Our Deck Is Made from Pallets—But It's Not What You Think

Viridian tropical hardwood decking is reclaimed from shipping materials—and it should last decades Installing Viridian decking on our front porch. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

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Resilient Design on the U.N Agenda As It Prepares for Climate Change

The United Nations, climate change, and resilient design: a day at the U.N. World Habitat conference The UN assembly hall where we met. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

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Putting the Duct Back in Ductless Mini-Splits

A would-be HVAC designer wonders if a ductless mini-split head can be hidden in a closet and connected to conventional ductwork.

This post by Scott Gibson first appeared on Green Building Advisor.

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New Home Proves LEDs Are Ready to Supplant Older Lighting

LED lighting has come a long way in a very few years and can now fully supplant incandescent and fluorescent technology Cree's new CR6 LED downlight for recessed cans.Photo Credit: Cree

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WUFI Without Worries: Doing More Good than Harm with Hygrothermal Modeling

Managing moisture as intensely as we manage energy is key to building durability and indoor air quality (IAQ)

WUFI doesn’t kill buildings. Poor design, specification, and workmanship kill buildings.

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A Passive House Movement Grows in Brooklyn

A three-unit condominium project under construction in Brooklyn is one of many Passive House projects that are springing up in the Borough The unit on the right, constructed of ICFs, is expected to achieve Passive House certificationPhoto Credit: Alex Wilson

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Serenbe: A Solar-Powered Development Trying to Solve Car Dependence

With EarthCraft certification being a requirement, energy performance of homes in Serenbe is relatively good; transit options being planned will also help save energy.

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4 Insider Tips for Choosing Flashing Tapes, from a Real-Life Engineer

A research engineer at Pella Windows finally offers some adult supervision for our benchtop tape tests.

by Peter Yost

This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.

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Serenbe—A Unique Green Town in the Making

Developer Steve Nygren is putting New Urbanist principles into practice at the Serenbe Community outside Atlanta A wide range of architectural styles are represented at Serenbe. Click to enlarge.Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

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As Vermont's Only Nuke Plant Closes, Is a Green Economy Ready?

The pending closure of Vermont’s only nuclear plant will hurt the local economy, but it could catalyze sustainable economic development

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A Heat Pump Using Carbon Dioxide as the Refrigerant

A new generation of CO2-based heat pumps could avoid the high global warming potential of standard refrigerants and generate much higher temperatures

by Alex Wilson

Editor’s note: We updated this 2013 blog post on April 15, 2024, to reflect more recent advancements in CO2-based heat-pump water heaters. To learn more about another such product, see the April 2024 article by Brent Ehrlich “On-demand Water Heat Goes All Electric with Heat Pumps, CO₂.”

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Access Ceilings: Replace Fixtures Without Cutting Into Drywall and Insulation

Paying attention to the various layers in a building envelope is critically important for ensuring air tightness and moisture management—and can be attractive, too.

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It Takes a Village to Be Resilient

Surveying residents to assess resilience in the town of Dummerston, Vermont The solar-electric system on our restored barn will contribute to community resilience in our part of Dummerston, Vermont.Photo Credit: Alex Wilson

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Beating the Achilles Heel of Grid-Tied Solar Electric Systems

A new inverter from SMA allows us to draw some daytime power from our PV system when the grid is down, even without batteries

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Attack of the Mountain Pine Beetle! (And How Green Buildings Can Make the Best of It)

Forests destroyed by mountain pine beetles can be made into valuable engineered wood products. The mountain pine beetle has killed millions of acres of forest across the western U.S., including most of the western slope of Rocky Mountain National Park.Photo Credit: USDA Forest Service

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