Solar Powered Cookies,er…Cooking...

Solar Cookies “Free energy“… what could be cooler than that? Well, “free energy” and “food“… Today, I’m baking Solar Powered Cookies in my Passive Solar Oven for snacks at this weekend’s South Sound Green Tour. Solar Oven with Assistant About 20 years ago, I was hired to go to Boston to teach the Fundamentals of Energy at a summer prep school. Given that  the classes offered were electives and there were many to choose from, I was pretty concerned about whether kids would sign up for my class. As a desperate...

How is Energy Efficiency Measured?...

HOW IS ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURED?* If you’ve read my previous posts on the origin of Passive House, you’ll know it originated out of Europe and the Passive House standards were born of the Low Energy House standards. The chart below references European homes and is in kWh per square meters per year, but you can imagine use patterns are not extremely dissimilar in the U.S. On the other hand, since we are notoriously heavy energy consumers, the energy savings indicated would be that much more graphic! Energy efficiency ratings of cars are measured in miles per...

Pioneers of Green Building...

I’m reposting this entry from Green By Design. It’s such a great reminder of the innovative and creative pioneers who have paved the way for us to design and build green in modern times. Thanks to them, we are not starting at ground-zero with green concepts but rather have some of the more exotic, if not rudimentary,  ideas tested and refined or dismissed wholesale as a good idea bad application. And really, who can resist the hanging treehouse that looks to have been built by an industrious prehistoric Silk Moth… check it out and enjoy! Zeta Lloyd...

Passive House (PHIUS) Concept & Sta...

Written by Tessa Smith, The Artisans Group, for The Nisqually River Foundation The Passive House (Passivhaus in German) concept was created in 1988 by Professor Bo Adamson and Doctor Wolfgang Feist, spurred on by their desire to positively affect climate change while decreasing reliance on a volatile energy market.  Their research combined existing energy efficiency technologies and concepts making Passive Houses the most energy efficient building system in the world.   Today Passive House certifications are administered by the Passive House Institute United States...