The most recent blogs at Green Building Advisor

In the 27 years that I’ve owned my house in West Dummerston, Vermont, I’ve always used wood heat to some extent. But my commitment to it has ebbed and flowed. For about the first 15 years, I heated the house almost exclusively with wood. Built in 1785, the house had electric heat when I bought it, but with my work focused on energy efficiency and alternative energy sources, I couldn’t bring myself to use electricity for heating, because so much energy is wasted during power generation.

Listen to Peter and Go Green Radio host Jill Buck discuss what makes a green home. Peter emphasizes the importance of the building process as well as the products used. Also discussed are the new USGBCUnited States Green Building Council (USGBC). Organization devoted to promoting and certifying green buildings. USGBC created the LEED rating systems. LEED for HomesLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED for Homes is the residential green building program from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). While this program is primarily designed for and applicable to new home projects, major gut rehabs can qualify. standards, building durability, building value over time, and how builders can develop their own green construction expertise.

The U.S. economy has run out of steam. Many Americans have concluded that the time has come for economic models based on never-ending growth to be replaced by an economy based on sustainability.

Although it’s easy to describe the promised land — a nation that spends within its means, does a better job of meeting human needs, protects the environment, provides adequate systems for mass transit, and eschews fossil fuels for renewable sources of energy — it’s hard to imagine a smooth transition between our existing “growth is good” economy and a sustainable future.

Last week we reviewed the history of wind energy, including its use for pumping water and generating power. This week we’ll take at look at the state of the art with wind power and what’s ahead.

If you haven’t read my earlier post Nudging Us Towards an Efficient Future, I recommend doing that first, as this post is a follow up.

I recently read an incredible book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. He writes about the food industry - industrialized farming, huge cattle feedlots, how corn is a prevalent ingredient in almost everything we consume, and other delightful subjects. It is enough to make you stop eating altogether. One subject he addresses is the idea of organic food. While its origins go back to J.J.

As homes become more and more efficient, we need to look for new frontiers in energy and resource conservation. One of the next ones on the horizon is water heating. We have many great options for heating water efficiently including tankless heaters, super high efficiency tank units, geothermal, and solar. They all have their pros and cons, depending on the particular project. One thing that they all have in common is that none of them are effective when connected to a poorly designed hot water distribution system.

It’s the piping, stupid!

I hear one particular question very frequently these days – “How much more does it cost to build a green home?” While this is an excellent question, it makes me realize just how far we still have to go in order to move towards a completely sustainable economy. Everything comes down to dollars with everyone. Even people with practically endless amounts of money are cost conscious. Not that it is a bad thing to be aware of what you are spending, but it isn’t good to make every decision based on cost.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at a few power-generation technologies: pumped hydro, landfill gas, and nuclear. This week, we’ll examine another option that’s been in the news a lot over the past few years: wind power.

70% energy savings are not only possible, they can be affordable. Why we need, and what we don't know about, deep energy retrofits

At the recent Affordable Comfort conference in Portland, Oregon, I was on a really interesting panel with Linda Wigington of Affordable Comfort, Katrin Klingenberg of the Passive House Institute US, and Alistair Jackson of O’Brien and Company (we—and the audience—had superb “adult supervision” from a leading Portland architect, Nathan Good). The question the panel wrestled with was this: Just how low can we get the total household energy use of existing homes when we do whole-house retrofits on different building types in different climates?