Tag archives for building efficiency
French Design Firm Gives House of Straw a Modernist Touch
Posted by EarthTechling on December 27, 2012 Perhaps the first Little Pig was right all along. In a demonstration about how to build a simple structure made entirely of recyclable or reusable materials, a small Parisian architecture firm called Studio 1984 chose straw as the main building material, designing a cozy, 15-square-meter “nest” that even the Big Bad Wolf would have to admire. The tiny structure, built earlier this fall…
Heat-Mapping Company Finds Thermal Gaps In Homes
Posted by EarthTechling on December 27, 2012 It’s 10 p.m.—do you know where your insulation gaps are? As the winter months descend and much of the country braces for icy weather, a startup company in the Boston area called Sagewell is taking it to the streets to let homeowners know exactly where their heating dollars are escaping, and provides suggestions about how to make their homes more energy…
Computerized ‘Family’ Takes Up Residence in Luxury Net-Zero Energy House
Posted by Amy Sinatra Ayres on September 18, 2012 From the outside, the upscale look of this suburban Maryland home is typical for the Washington, D.C., area. But the inside reveals something very different. The virtual “family” inside the house is made up of state-of-the-art sensors, and the house aims to achieve net zero annual energy consumption. Built by the U.S. government, the $2.5…
Posted by Is energy efficiency condemned to be an “eat your peas” technology? Matt Wald, The New York Times’ senior energy reporter, remarked during a Scaling Green Communicating Energy Lecture earlier this month that energy efficiency “is like flossing your teeth. It’s a wonderful idea, but it’s hard to get people to do it … Saving energy is no.…
Posted by Americans still haven’t lost their taste for living large, at least when it comes to housing. The latest Census Bureau statistics show that the average new American home got a little bigger in 2011 — just by 88 square feet over 2010, but still a surprise given the poor housing market. Housing experts say this…
Japan Demonstration Home Departs From the Grid
Posted by EarthTechling on May 10, 2012 Slightly more than a year after the March 11, 2011, Fukushima disaster, the automaker Honda unveiled a demonstration home in Saitama, Japan, that is powered by thin-film solar panels, as well as a 92-percent efficient gas-fired generator that contributes both hot water and electricity to the home, and a rechargeable home battery unit. (Related Story: One Year After…
Posted by In the early 1990s, Steve Nygren was a successful Atlanta restaurateur who was caught up in “life’s treadmill,” as he puts it, when he and his wife purchased a 60-acre farm in Chattahoochee Hills, Ga. When Nygren noticed that his young children were more excited to leave their fancy city house with a pool in order…
Obama Announces $4 Billion Green Building Upgrade Plan
Posted by EarthTechling on December 2, 2011 
President Obama, frustrated by the extreme political infighting in Congress, took action today to promote part of his green technology agenda. He unveiled plans to move forward with nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next two years as part of something called the Better Business Initiative…
Many conversations at the American Renewable Energy Day (AREDAY) conference in Aspen focused on what needs to be done, what can be done realistically, and what isn’t being done to transition the United States away from fossil fuels. So it was refreshing and inspiring to hear about something that has been done: retrofitting New York…
