Why Don't We Build Better Houses?

Did you know that the solar house was a popular concept in the 1940s, and that architects like Fred Keck, an American modernist architect based in Chicago, Illinois, could save their clients 30–40% on heating ...

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Modeling Smart Homes

Author: Aaron Ewerdt

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March 09, 2008

When Solaris Home Systems was founded in Chicago in 2003, our main focus was home automation systems—lighting, HVAC, security, entertainment, and so on. We quickly realized that home automation systems could do more than ... [continue reading]

Keeping Cool at the Third Solar Decathlon

Author: Tina Kaarsberg

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January 27, 2008

Anyone interested in the latest earth-friendly heating, cooling, appliance, and other home energy technologies should check out the Solar Decathlon, a biennial event sponsored by DOE that invites teams from colleges and universities around the ... [continue reading]

SolarSmart Homes Sell Faster

Author: Mary James

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January 01, 2008

The housing industry may be in a slump in parts of the country, but in and around Sacramento, California, one type of housing is selling at twice the rate of its competitors—the SolarSmart ... [continue reading]

Moving from Energy Efficiency to Carbon Footprint

Author: Greg Thomas

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January 01, 2008

I have been in the energy efficiency and renewable energy business for almost 30 years, and I am seeing more rapid change now in this industry than ever before. More and more people understand that energy ... [continue reading]

Zero Peak Homes: Real Homes, Real Savings

Author: Ryan Kerr

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January 01, 2008

A net-zero energy home (ZEH) has become a familiar construct to most Home Energy readers. But what we at the Building Industry Research Alliance (BIRA) have learned as we have worked to make this concept ... [continue reading]

When Time-Of-Use Costs Too Much

Author: Chris Staskewicz

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September 04, 2007

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) has run into some unexpected hurdles for certain residential customers planning to install PV modules on their homes. Under the terms for those requesting rebates, households are required to ... [continue reading]

Yavapai's Green Building Success

Author: Tony Grahame and Richard Peterson

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July 01, 2007

Yavapai College's Residential Building Technology (RBT) program has been recognized many times over for its energy-efficient, green, and affordable homes - homes that are constructed by students in the program. [continue reading]

Dreaming of Windows

Author: Dariush Arasteh

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May 06, 2007

Q We are building a new passive-solar home and have had difficulty finding commercially available low-U, high solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) windows. The specs quoted for the windows in the Home ... [continue reading]