HOME STAR: This is kind of a big deal
There are several energy and climate bills floating around in the Congress right now, including the Kerry/Boxer (or Kerry/Graham/Lieberman) Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (which has been in the works since – but not because – I thanked them here) ; the Bingaman/Murkowski American Clean Energy Leadership Act, or ACELA; the Cantwell/Collins CLEAR [...]
Want to get a home energy rating?
…Well if so, let me know, because I’m at a conference with several hundred home energy raters this week!
First of all, you may want to know what a “home energy rating” consists of. The funny thing is, there’s actually LOTS of home energy ratings. There’s the HERS, which is given by ResNet, which is the [...]
Unplug, or the Polar Bear Gets it
AKA, the Greenlite at Dartmouth University energy saving program. First, go to Greenlite’s home page here.
What do you see? Do you see a happy polar bear, playing with a butterfly?
Perhaps he’s taking a nap next to his “friends”, the baby seal and the baby polar bear…
Or, maybe you see a polar bear that’s running… you [...]
America’s Greenest Building Code
Last week, the California Building Standards Commission unanimously adopted the first-in-the-nation mandatory Green Building Standards Code, also known as “CALGREEN”. The new standards take effect starting January 1, 2011 and will require all new buildings in the state to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible. The new CALGREEN code will require:
a 20 percent mandatory [...]
Colorado: “Neon” Green
While Portland is working towards being the greenest city in the country, and California is known for incorporating energy efficiency into its building codes, the real net-zero capital of the United States might soon be Colorado. The Centennial State is no stranger to energy efficiency and renewable energy: the University of Colorado won the Solar [...]
Green Building Policy in a Changing Economic Environment
The title of this post is taken from a report recently released by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which I found through my daily Department of Energy update. The report can be found on this AIA’s Local Leaders in Sustainability Web page, which also has some great links to case studies done over the [...]
The AIA Awards and Carbon Neutrality
The American Institute of Architects, or the AIA, is the national association for professional architects in the United States. Each year, local chapters of the AIA give out awards to projects or firms in their jurisdiction for exemplary design. Well, MOST of the chapters give out awards for exemplary design. Yet another reason why I [...]
Weatherization: not just a long, fancy word
I love it when the topic of weatherization comes up in political debates or speeches. To me, it means that the people in charge are actually paying attention and realize that buildings need to be more energy efficient. But, what exactly IS weatherization?
First the definition: Dictionary.com says that weatherization is the process of making (a [...]
Is the Stimulus stimulating?
Today on GreenBiz.com, their contributor Sarah Terry-Cobo published a terrific piece called Mapping the Path of Stimulus Funding that takes a look at where the billions of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are going in this country. Even better, they made a map! Who doesn’t like maps? Have a look [...]
The 29 most important pages of the Waxman-Markey climate bill
Ed Mazria is a bit of a legend in the Architecture and design community. He’s been in practice forever; he wrote a big, fat book all about energy-saving passive design in the 70’s entitled The Passive Solar Energy Book; and he’s the driving force behind the organization known as Architecture 2030. Basically, when Ed talks, [...]
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