A new smart home study released by Lowe’s found that while Rosie the Robot is the futuristic feature consumers would want most from “The Jetsons,” more than 70 percent of smart phone users in America just wish they could control something in their home from their mobile device without getting out of bed. Lowe’s 2014 Smart Home…
Tag Archives: Energy
08
Sep
Sep
Passive house design has gone from an emerging architectural trend to a firmly established movement that’s entrenched itself in the professional and public mind. Even so, most people – both industry experts and laypeople – take the term literally, and equate “passive house” with, you know, houses. The truth, meanwhile, is that the same principles…
26
Aug
Aug
Composite Panel Building Systems announced the introduction of a new sheathing system that can improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings and homes, as well as new construction projects. The C-SIS exterior sheathing system combines insulation, an air/water barrier, structural components, and a water drainage plane into a compact panel that can be installed easily…
12
Aug
Aug
Yingli Green Energy, the largest vertically integrated photovoltaic module manufacturer in the world, known as “Yingli Solar,” announced that they have successfully completed trial production of monocrystalline ingots for solar panels using new material technology. Instead of using traditional graphite crucibles when pulling monocrystalline ingots, Yingli experimented with crucibles made from a carbon-carbon (C-C) composite…
11
Aug
Aug
Morrison Hershfield announced last week that the book Building Envelope Thermal Bridging Guide – Analysis, Applications, and Insights is now public and can be downloaded. The guide aims to overcome obstacles confronting the industry with respect to mitigating thermal bridging to reduce energy consumption in buildings. According to the guide, “thermal bridging is caused by highly conductive…
06
Aug
Aug
“A Building Energy Management System (BEMS) is an integrated system of software, hardware and services that controls energy use through information and communication technology,” according to The Energy Collective. “Used primarily in commercial buildings, BEMS technology works by monitoring, automating, and controlling building systems such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, thermostats, and lighting to increase…
24
Jul
Jul
I have had the pleasure of writing about this Colorado company before and its skilled use of beetle-killed pine in some of the homes it builds. For those interested in log homes, or issues involving beetle-kill pine, this is a company worth following. What follows is taken from an old post, just to whet the…
23
Jun
Jun
Last week the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that it will consider issuing a research lease for Oregon State University to study ocean wave energy off the Oregon coast. The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center is seeking approval to build a test site about 5 miles off the Newport coast to study utility-scale…
28
Apr
Apr
Homes that utilize skylights, in combination with vertical windows, to provide adequate levels of daylight tend to be more energy efficient, according to a study commissioned by VELUX America. Homes with skylights need less vertical windows to achieve the same amount of daylight. Less vertical windows increase the energy efficiency of a building. “While we have…
03
Apr
Apr
Built in collaboration with UC Davis in California, the Honda Smart Home is a three-year green building project that will monitor typical energy use needs for average Americans and their families.
30
Sep
Sep
The Story of Eagleyew: A High Efficiency Natural Building on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada I’m pleased to say that I have been building Natural Buildings for a number of years now. My work has taken me up and down the West coast of North America, with a focus in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been calling…
17
Dec
Dec
CSO Arquitectura teamed with prefab construction specialists Torsan and created Sistema Abierto de Viviendas Modulares Sostenibles (SAVMS) which translate to the “open sustainable modular housing system.”
Architecture in origami form is a remarkable concept which is hard to envision but D*Haus has come up with a house design that follows the very dynamics of the paper folding art. D*Haus’ transformation house, D*Dynamic, has yet to be built but the conception is likely to take hold. They have designed furniture, such as…
14
Nov
Nov
Condensation on the inside of your windows during the winter may indicate that you should look at upgrading your windows. More likely, however, water on the inside of your windows is a symptom of a completely different problem with your home.
04
Oct
Oct
The Kill A Watt Energy Meter is a simple and remarkably useful device for revealing how much appliances are costing you to operate. A few experiments with one of these meters have saved me hundreds of dollars in energy waste and hundreds more in unnecessary appliance upgrades that I probably otherwise would have made. A…
04
Oct
Oct
The new NPE Series greatly reduces time and labor for a typical tankless retrofit by utilizing existing gas lines and existing flue chases. In fact, this new technology allows installation time to be reduced by half compared to other tankless water heaters. All these technical advances make the Navien NPE tankless series ideal for tank water heater replacement.
27
Sep
Sep
Blowing insulation into an attic space is a remarkably simple home energy retrofit project that can have truly enormous financial and energy saving payback. Insulation is one of the cheapest components of a home, yet has the largest potential for saving money over the course of the life of a building. In fact, many insulation…
07
Sep
Sep
There is an increasing awareness in Australia about the obvious advantages and benefits of switching to solar power. Not only does it contribute to a more ecologically sustainable environment, but in the long term, it also saves you money on power bills.