Submitted by Betsy Aaron on Thu, 11/23/2017 - 03:48
How much do you feel you are helping to reduce global warming? If you are like me, you are doing things like recycling or turning out the lights in an empty room, but it can feel like a drop in the bucket.
Submitted by Jose Rivero on Wed, 11/08/2017 - 15:00
I am reminded every day that the old adage “The devil is in the details!” rings true in our quest for high performance building construction—as much any other endeavor.
Submitted by Jennifer Love on Tue, 10/31/2017 - 09:51
In early October, I attended the 10th Annual WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas. A repeated theme was “saving water saves energy and vice versa.” Multifamily buildings are a prime example, as domestic hot water (DHW) is a dominant energy use in multifamily. Reducing DHW use and delivering it more efficiently are worthy project goals. Here are some exciting new developments in this arena:
Submitted by Dan Johnson on Thu, 10/05/2017 - 10:21
In late September I gave a presentation at the 12th Annual North American Passive House Conference, organized by PHIUS, describing how heat pump water heaters can be used for combined space heating and water heating. When strolling the vendors' floor between presentations, I was pleasantly surprised to see an increase in the quality of Passive building products.
Submitted by katy hollbacher on Fri, 09/22/2017 - 13:51
I was lucky to be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming—virtually smack-dab on the "blue line" in the narrow path of totality—for the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years on August 21. There was so much hype leading up to this event, and it was completely justified! For an unforgettable moment in the midst of our vast universe, in a special spot dynamically shifting east along with the movement of our planetary objects, our sun and moon literally aligned and our little spot of Earth was transformed: the sky darkened, the horizon turned orange, stars appeared, and the air felt freezing.
Submitted by Jose Rivero on Mon, 06/05/2017 - 05:38
Thanks to a recent presentation by Pierre Delforge from the Natural Resources Defense Council (select sides below), the case for deploying heat pump water heaters to replace both electric and natural gas models is becoming more clear for many.
Pierre began by showing that as our electricity gets cleaner, the natural gas we burn is making up a larger portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Two thirds of Bay area household CO2 emissions now come from burning natural gas.
Submitted by katy hollbacher on Tue, 05/09/2017 - 12:23
Submitted by Jennifer Love on Thu, 11/19/2015 - 14:32
I recently went to two events, a LEED for Homes Rater Training in Chicago and a Passive House California conference in Palo Alto. These separate events reinforced two things that I had lost focus of in the day-to-day business of being an energy and sustainability consultant. The first is that California is so far ahead of the pack when it comes to sustainable building. So much of what people in other parts of the country struggle with is already codified in California.
Submitted by katy hollbacher on Wed, 11/18/2015 - 14:45
Submitted by katy hollbacher on Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:02
Building Carbon Zero Palo Alto
- Friday, November 13, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Lucie Stern Community Center, Palo Alto, California
Beyond Efficiency will be presenting Case Study: 412 Olive Avenue Office, One Year Later. Come learn about the project's challenges, successes and performance results!
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