Championing the
Changemakers

Transitions.

For me, the creative tension between beauty and green performance came to a head in 2006, when I began working with the staff of Architectural Record on their new magazine: GreenSource. (GreenSource is no longer a separate... Read more

When I was in Portland, Oregon for the 2014 Living Future Conference I had an... Read more

I’m just back from Portland, Oregon where I attended the annual Living Future Conference.

The Living Future Conference was created by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) initially to provide a networking and learning venue for designers and builders involved in creating buildings that are... Read more

Among the energy-related features of our new house in Dummerston, Vermont, is one parked in the garage.

We are hoping to power a plug-in hybrid car using the electricity generated on our barn. We have... Read more

As summer heats up here, I’m looking forward to trying out the high-tech ceiling fans we installed in our two upstairs bedrooms. First,... Read more

Using... Read more

The United Nations’ IPCC is leading an international effort to understand climate change, and efforts like the Kyoto Protocol have grown out of that background work. But are we getting closer to solving... Read more

I love reading Lew Harriman’s stuff; he is a good writer and building scientist. Take, for example, Preventing Mold by Keeping New Construction Dry. It’s a straightforward yet compelling... Read more

Nearly all of our methods for generating electricity involve water consumption—some a lot, some not as much. Producing electricity with hydropower is the most water-intensive method, owing to evaporation from reservoirs.... Read more

In this weekly blog, I’ve focused a lot of attention on the energy-saving measures at our new home—from the innovative insulation materials we used to the air-source heat pump heating system and our top-efficiency heat-recovery ventilator. What I haven’t said much about are the measures we’ve taken to reduce water use and why... Read more

Just when you thought it was safe to enjoy this blog over a cup of coffee here’s an article on…urine?

Really?

Let me explain.

Urine is a largely sterile, nutrient-rich resource that can be used in fertilizing plants. In fact, according to the Rich Earth Institute, the... Read more

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

The Wingnut Test Facility, or WTF, conducting new PSA tape testing in preparation for the NESEA BE14 Demonstration Stages, learned how half a dozen or so tapes are performing on half a dozen different... Read more

My wife and I... Read more

One of our early decisions in the planning for our farmhouse renovation/re-build was... Read more

We chose a heat pump water heater for our new house, and as I've recently discussed here, there are a lot of reasons why you might be doing the same.

Using an air-source heat pump, heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) extract heat out of the air where they are located to heat the water.

As we build more energy-efficient houses, particularly when we go to extremes with insulation and air tightness, as with Passive House projects, water heating becomes a larger and larger share of overall energy consumption (see Solar Thermal Hot Water, Heating, and Cooling). In fact, with some of these ultra-efficient homes,... Read more

This blog post first appeared on GreenBuildingAdvisor.com.

We are always trying to avoid unintended consequences of our best efforts to improve home performance. A good example of this is radon gas and air tightness levels in homes during energy retrofits. How are the two levels related, and what can we do about it?