This is part of an ongoing series. Read all the Sticky Business posts here.
Lots of building products offer some help in keeping air, water, and heat in our buildings, but without attention to the joints, you lose critical continuity in your barriers.
After months of controversy, the third public comment draft of LEED 2012 strengthens commitments to both FSC and local wood--while not budging on the importance of life-cycle assessment.
This is Part 2 in our "Wood Wars" series.
Part 1: Are FSC and LEED Killing American Jobs? A Look at the Evidence
Not all MSDSes are created equal. Because what they are required to report is minimal, manufacturers take very different approaches to how much they disclose.
Looking for better information on chemicals of concern? An MSDS can be a good place to look. Then again, it can be a really bad place to look. Click for a PDF of the full non-information. (We took out the company name; they DID include that much!)
Most leading energy experts today recommend installing a lot more insulation than is common practice. This wall for a Passive House in Seattle will hold about a foot of insulation.
Originally published February 28, 2012
I'm often asked the question, "How much insulation should I install in my house"? It's a great question. Let me offer some recommendations:
CBECS (the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey) was suspended last May due to federal budget cuts, but now it seems the survey will go on.
Many tools--most notably the popular Energy Star Portfolio Manager--use CBECS data. The benchmarking is only as good as the data backing it, so it comes as a relief to many that CBECS will resume.
FSC and LEED, with its certified wood credit, are hurting the economy, claim the governor of Maine, a U.S. Senator, and SFI. We take a look at the evidence.
This is Part 1 in our "Wood Wars" series.
Part 2: FSC and Beyond--LEED 2012 Buries the "Wood Wars" Hatchet
With so many types of window treatments available, including awnings, shades, storms, and shutters, it's hard to know which one is right. GreenSpec can help.
Awnings are a traditional way to control solar heat gain in the American South. Blocking gain is more effective than dealing with the heat after it comes into the building. However, awnings aren't the best product for every window in every climate.
There's a lot of talk about how renewable energy like solar and wind can't ramp up to meet our energy needs. What we need are creative solutions to that challenge, like distributed cogeneration.
This image is a screen shot from a LichtBlick video demonstrating how distributed cogeneration can take up the slack when wind and solar energy sources are not producing power.
Which flush is which? Dual-flush fixtures should be better at making it obvious.
Editor's note: Thanks to Evan Dick for this guest post. Evan is a former writer from BuildingGreen and now works at the Center for EcoTechnology in Massachusetts.
Energy modeling Q&A: first some answers on cost, and then it's your turn to ask (or answer) some questions.
Chris Schaffner
There is so much confusion about energy modeling--what it should cost, what benefits it offers, how to approach it--that clear statements addressing these questions are like a breath of fresh air.
