The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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Modular Construction is on the Move
In March, I attended what may have been one of the last in-person industry conferences held for quite a while, the 2020 World of Modular, the annual convention of the…
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Construction in the Pandemic Age
As green building consultants and verifiers, we are intimately involved in single family and multifamily projects through the entire construction cycle. Fortunately for us, and much of the industry, construction…
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Why Are People Still Using Open-Combustion Water Heaters?
John Straube, one of my favorite building science comedians, describes atmospherically-vented water heaters as “faith-based ventilation,” a description I use regularly in my presentations, always with appropriate credit given. While…
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The Green Police: Product Retrospective (volume 2)
Welcome to round two of my product retrospective, where green remodeler Michael Anschel of Minneapolis-based OA Design+Build+Architecture and I look back at our illustrious career as screen stars in the…
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The 2019 HIVE Conference
In December I attended the 2019 HIVE Conference in Austin, Texas. This was my second time to this conference and found it again to be an interesting experience, different from…
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Archi-torture: The Pain of Bad Details
While this post has little (or maybe nothing) to do with green building as most of us understand what it means, I find myself seeing some terrible residential design work…
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The Green Police: Product Retrospective
For several years in the 2000s and early 2010s, I was half of the "Green Police," a video series produced by Hanley Wood, along with green remodeler Michael Anschel of…
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Blower Door Testing a Living Building
My company recently had the privilege of being hired to provide envelope leakage testing for a new Living Building Challenge project at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, built by Skanska USA,…
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Multifamily HVAC Woes
We work on thousands of multifamily housing units every year providing certification, consulting, and testing services for affordable and market rate developers. Our influence tends to be somewhat limited as…
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The National Green Building Standard Turns 20(20)
The National Green Building Standard, AKA NGBS Green, is a residential green building certification program that has continued to grow in popularity. Also known as ICC-700, it has been revised…
