Posts Tagged ‘energy efficiency’
One Way to Build Green: Use Reclaimed Beams
The Straight Goods on Green Building and Energy-Efficient Home Design. Green building is the catch phrase for the creation of houses that are energy efficient and environmentally in their design and construction. …… The article expands the information about what Green building means and what is needed to build and energy efficient home. These are the four things that I feel are important considerations when trying to build Green. ( the video illustrates item #2)
Design a house that uses less energy to heat, cool, light and maintain.
Use materials that consume less energy to produce and transport are non-toxic, and can be re-cycled or safely disposed of when no longer useful.
Use building products made from materials that are not limited in supply and are quickly and easily regrown, reproduced and replaced.
Use energy sources that are readily replenished and have an unlimited supply
Don’t Buy LED Lights If You Don’t Know the CRI and CCT
This alphabet soup for LED lights will let you know what kind of light your new light bulbs will give off when you bring them home. If they produce the wrong colors, you will hate them. If they give off the right colors, you will love them. LED lights are a great breakthrough in energy…
Read MoreLED Light – Our Word of the Week
LED Light – This is not the light above your Led Zeppelin poster. That is a black light. LED stands for “light emitting diode.” An LED light bulb is the next generation light bulb. It has a lifespan and electrical efficiency that is many times better than incandescent lamps, and significantly better than fluorescent lamps. Light…
Read MoreGet a House That Works and Is Energy Efficient
Energy Efficient House Design Today, I spent the day in a class called Houses That Work, a class about how to make houses more energy efficient and healthier. It was presented by EEBA, The Energy & Environmental Building Alliance. As an architect, I have to participate in continuing education classes, seminars, and other learning activities…
Read MoreSolar Orientation Impacts a Home’s Comfort and Energy Efficiency
I was sitting in the Baltimore Washington International airport recently and I was emphatically (and painfully) reminded of the importance of proper solar orientation in building design. Whoever designed this airport must have been tone deaf to solar orientation. And they probably never heard of passive solar design. Concourses A and B in the airport…
Read MoreDo You Have Hot and Cold Bedrooms?
Are some of your bedrooms too hot or too cold? This is a common problem in new homes. Often the master bedroom will be fine, but the other rooms get too cold or too hot during the night. The culprit is not necessarily your Heating and Air Conditioning unit. The culprit is the closed door. Your…
Read MoreWearing Passive Solar Design
It’s freezing cold across much of the United States. Are you wearing passive solar clothes to stay warm? I know it sounds like an odd question. We tend to think of using solar design for houses, not clothes. I’ll explain. If you know it’s a cold day, do you think about what you’re going to…
Read More4 Passive Solar Benefits of Metal Roofing
When you get dressed in the morning, do you consider passive solar design principles? Probably not. At least not conciously. But I’ll bet you consider the weather as you choose what to wear? I do. If it’s going to be hot and sunny, I usually choose a light colored shirt that is made from a fabric…
Read MorePassive Solar Design – Free Energy
Today, we awoke to a freak snowstorm here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I say “freak” because any snow is a rare occurrence in this part of the country. Snow in January is a novel concept in the southeast. Everything, and I mean everything was closed. We were crippled by Mother Nature. When the flakes stopped…
Read MoreBirth of Building Green
The birth of “Building Green” arguably happened in Austin, Texas in the 1970’s. There’s a good article in Ecohome about Austin’s sustainable building program and their continuing progress. But the trigger for Austin may not have been what you might have guessed. Here is the first paragraph of the article by Jeffery Lee: Austin, Texas…
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