The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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How We Use 322 Billion Gallons of Water Every Day
This post originally appeared at Ensia. As climate change, urban development, irrigation, and other factors are altering the availability of water, it’s important to understand how we use water on…
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2019 Is the Year of Energy Codes
If there’s a defining theme for the building sector in 2019, it’s energy codes. Actions to update the rules that cities and states set to determine how effectively new residential…
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Frugal Happy: We Have a Floor on Our Ceiling
Editor’s Note: This post is one of a series by Chris Stratton and Wen Lee, a husband-and-wife team living in the Los Angeles area who are turning their 1963 suburban…
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Is the Green New Deal Just a Pipe Dream?
The Green New Deal that Democratic lawmakers recently proposed would confront climate change by eliminating America’s net carbon emissions within a decade. If enacted, it would transform America’s energy industries…
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Urban Rustic: Installing an ERV
Editor’s note: This post is one of a series by Eric Whetzel about the design and construction of his house in Palatine, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A list of…
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Bike-Friendly Cities Should Be Designed for Everyone
Designing for bikes has become a hallmark of forward-looking modern cities worldwide. Bike-friendly city ratings abound, and advocates promote cycling as a way to reduce problems ranging from air pollution…
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A Promising Start for Cleaner Buildings in California
The California Utilities Commission has now launched the process for implementing a new law to make the state’s homes more climate-friendly and affordable to heat. The commission is also considering…
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Green Tech and Rare Earth Elements
This post originally appeared at Ensia. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change argued that we must cut global emissions in half by 2030 in order…
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Keeping the Lights on During Extreme Cold Snaps
Polar vortexes. Hurricanes. Wildfires. With climate change making extreme weather events more frequent and intense, it is getting harder to keep the lights on and HVAC systems running. As a…
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Saving Sustainably: Completing the Dry-In
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of blogs detailing the construction of a net-zero energy house in Point Roberts, Washington, by an owner-builder with relatively little building experience.…
