Opinions & ideas on energy use, climate change, and the economy in Vermont
Al Gore’s recent TED Talk, The Case for Optimism on Climate Change, is a true game changer. It is likely to have an impact as great as, or greater than, An Inconvenient Truth. Three Simple Questions: Al Gore asks three simple questions about carbon and climate change: Do we have to change? Can we change? Read More …
Getting to Net Zero National Forum, Washington D.C. I was fortunate to attend the Getting to Net Zero National Forum in Washington, DC on February 1-3 which was promoted as “A gathering to share perspectives on the growth of zero energy buildings, learn about best practices for successful projects and collaborate on opportunities for zero energy to Read More …
The rapidly evolving revolution in power generation, storage, and distribution. The rapid transformation in renewable energy technologies and plummeting costs for renewables, generation, storage, and distribution systems is now revolutionizing the global energy sector as powerfully as the Internet, social media, and other recent high technology sectors. It is also transforming our energy infrastructure and Read More …
In our GBA guest blog on August 26th , and our Net Zero Energy Vermont blog, we posed a question concerning net zero (NZ) statistics and metrics. What are the metrics that will move us toward our net zero goal and future? When we purchase a car we generally know what the fuel mileage is. Read More …
We are alive at a unique and remarkable time – this moment in history marks one of the most major changes in human civilization. Today, fossil fuels no longer make economic sense. We have reached the tipping point where using renewable energy costs less than using fossil fuel energy. This cost consideration even excludes the Read More …
The International Living Futures Institute, the parent organization for the Living Building Challenge, hosted an “unConference” on May 23rd Portland, OR. Among the highlights, Maya Lin, renowned international architect, and Lance Hosey the author of The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design both spoke. I presented as a part of a panel with Mark Read More …
While I’ve been absent from the blog scene lately, I’m excited to be back and re-energize our team’s online writing efforts. During my blog hiatus I’ve been far from relaxed and “on-break” — instead I’ve written a book, The New Net Zero, which will be released this June by Chelsea Green Publishing! The book effort, Read More …
On a sunny day in July, I was happy to find myself in Boothbay, Maine for the grand opening of our most recent net-zero project, The Bosarge Family Education Center at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Heralded by the press as “The Greenest Building in Maine”, this educational center is the first net-zero commercial/institutional project Read More …
I recently had the chance to travel to Montreal and present one of our Vermont projects, the net-zero Putney School Field House, at the international ASHRAE conference. This was an exciting chance for us to share with others how it really is possible to achieve net-zero in the cold climate of Vermont. This was also a Read More …
Image via Wikipedia There are many measures used for building energy efficiency: total kBtu, kBtu/sf/yr, kWh/yr, therms/yr, kWh/sq.m/yr, $/yr or kBtu/person, and more. But determining when to use which metric, and even more importantly, how to make sense of a comparison of the energy efficiency of two different buildings, is no easy task. An Example Read More …