Bundling up your house
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about insulation lately. Part of that is because of HOME STAR, which provides incentives for homeowners if they choose to upgrade the insulation in their house, among other things. My explanation of HOME STAR inevitably leads to explaining some of the measures available for incentives, and insulation [...]
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 [...]
Copenhagen … Continues
So much for keeping you up to date with news from the United Nations COP15, aka, the Copenhagen Climate Conference, as it happened. It turns out that not a lot has gone on that was worth reporting, aside from a brief kerfuffle on Monday when much of the developing nations’ delegation walked away from the [...]
Green Day Forum
Today I’m at the Earth Advantage Institute’s Green Day Forum in Portland. I’m surrounded by impassioned and brilliant green building professionals from all aspects of the industry. For instance, I’ve already met builders and realtors who came to educate themselves and I got some literature from one of the only certified energy efficient [...]
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 [...]
“When Al Gore sees his shadow, it means the Earth is dying”
I had the absolute privilege of seeing Al Gore here in Portland last Thursday, at an event where he was standing up in support of our gubernatorial candidate Bill Bradbury (who himself seems like a committed supporter of environmental issues). I’m happy to say that after departing Portland, Al Gore traveled to New York, where [...]
iGreen at GreenBuild: How the Web Empowers Designers to Build Sustainably
I’m pleased to announce – albeit after the fact – that I participated on a “virtual” panel discussion at the GreenBuild conference today. Which is to say, while GreenBuild is happening in Phoenix, Arizona, I sat on the panel, via my Web cam, in Portland, Oregon, and chatted with some illustrious Internet friends who were [...]
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