Blog

Surprising technical design aspects of California ADUs 

Did you know that water heating is often the top energy end use in smaller ADUs or homes with a higher occupant density? Specifying heat pump water heaters (HPWHs) is one of the best strategies to reduce energy use as these are about three times more efficient than electric resistance or gas. 

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My experience with a DIY mini-split heat pump

Katy Hollbacher interviews Laken Allen

Today I'm interviewing my colleague Laken Allen. She's a homeowner in Victor, Idaho with husband Sam, 1-yr old Auggie, and dogs Wilson and Dory. Before their baby arrived, she and Sam decided to purchase the MRCOOL "DIY" multi-zone mini-split heat pump system and install it in their home. Read on to learn more about their experiences and lessons learned!

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How to prepare for a power outage at -30°F

Image credit: Stephen Williams, lights of Jackson WY seen from Snow King Resort

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BuildingGenius: Making sustainable housing a no-brainer

Beyond Efficiency is highly motivated to solve the nation’s housing crisis and planet’s climate crisis through our technical work, but the traditional building consulting model isn’t going to cut it. To scale our impact far beyond what we’re able to accomplish as a small team working on one-off building projects, we’re excited to announce our new technology- and community-based initiative, BuildingGenius.

How I electrified my Northern California home

This is a case study about modernizing my 1200-square foot East Bay home by removing gas-fired appliances. The gas replacement work was done with some willingness to tolerate temporary inconveniences to minimize cost, which might be helpful for scrappy remodeling projects undertaken by many readers.

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How I electrified my Northern Michigan home

A few years ago, I had the opportunity and privilege to design and build a high performance all-electric home in northwest lower Michigan. Read on to learn about the electric equipment, our experiences to date, and some data on hot water, minisplit, and overall energy use.

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What You Can Do to Optimize Indoor Air Quality

Image credit: Douglas Zimmerman, SFGATE

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Residential Energy Feedback

Image credit: Sense, a home energy monitoring system.

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