How to build a house that reflects our role as stewards of the planet?
What Size should a house be?
—a field of knowledge that draws upon physics, chemistry, engineering, architecture, and the life sciences.
The first step to building a (net) zero energy home is a solid understanding of climate zones.
Our DESIGN strategy clarifies architectural issues at the heart of complex processes.
“In the United States, the buildings sector accounted for about 41% of primary energy consumption in 2010, 44% more than the transportation sector and 36% more than the industrial sector.”
The housing bubble and ensuing mortgage crisis looms large in the recent memories of architects, builders and homeowners.
“Green Chemistry is based on a set of principles that when used in the design, development and implementation of chemical products and processes, enables scientists to protect and benefit the economy, people and the planet.
The HERS (Home Energy Rating System) Index is the industry standard by which a home’s energy efficiency is measured.
Improved technology doubles the amount of work produced with a given amount of fuel.
I am proud of my government.
This life cycle graph is from the clothing industry.
Climate data for Kansas City, collected from the Downtown Airport reporting station.
It is crucial to understand there are no silver bullets in high performance building.
The insurance industry is an interesting test case for the impact of climate change.
There is more data in these areas for commercial construction than for residential and the trends favor high-performance construction:
“The bottom line is this: Going forward, energy conservation and Indoor Air Quality must be considered together and have equal priority in the design, construction, furnishing, and operation of a home or building.
It is no longer enough just to recycle.
Passive Solar planning and design depends on a dimensional understanding of sun path, site and season.
Thick wall building assemblies are tricky.
National Geographic Society (U.S.). "The Water Issue." National Geographic Magazine 217, no. 4 (2010). ngm.nationalgeographic.com
Labor is the x-factor in construction over the next few years because the labor pool is greatly diminished and it is not clear it will come back.
This graph, a means of quantifying human comfort range, is extremely information rich—as you can see from the inset drawings—and there are two take aways: The range of comfort is dependent on a complicated set of relationships and The range of comfort is greater when people have control over their own interior environment
z2o is the research based practice formed, to apply what we have learned (and will learn) to designing, building and dwelling in (net) Zero Energy Homes.
Where on the curve do you think is zero energy building?