With the economy the way it is, retiring folks are downsizing or losing their homes, while newly educated folks are graduating with slim pickings.  Not to be grim, but this is causing people to use property in new ways, such as with accessory dwelling units.  The space can be used for family or as a rental to cover loose ends.  In Vancouver, this is happening with laneway housing.  Smallworks, a Vancouver-based design and build firm, specializes in small and laneway houses, just like this one, the West House. 

Read more »

Across the pond in the London Borough of Hillingdon, this infill development of five ultra-green buildings continues to garner attention.  The project, Birchway Eco-Community, was built to Level 5 of the Code of Sustainable Homes (with 6 being the highest possible score) and provides 24 one- and two-bedroom affordable housing units.  These buildings were finished on site after being prefabricated and delivered with kitchens and bathrooms already installed. 

Read more »

Just a few days ago, the $41 million Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental & Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE), a 55,000 square-foot building designed to LEED Platinum certification, was dedicated.  The facility was built to be a living laboratory and platform to showcase technological innovation.  Currently, the south facade of the laboratory wing includes a spot to test building envelope and window systems, and it's currently testing this innovative integrated concentrating dynamic solar facade. 

Read more »

The other day, Martin Holladay, a blogger for Green Building Advisor, mentioned this energy-efficiency pyramid, which I found to be quite interesting.  He said The Pyramid of Conservation originated from Bob McLean, CEO at Hunt Utilities Group, and was created for Minnesota Power.  Minnesota Power uses the interactive graphic to help customers determine where to start when taking on energy efficiency projects.

Read more »

We are giving away one (1) copy of this book to a random commenter, so make sure to comment before the end of Friday, March 12, 2010.*

Solar power is exploding these days, what with generous financial incentives and the price of products going down.  All sort of people are looking at the technology to provide green power, but they need good information.  One place to find that is in a new book called Solar Basics by Neil Kaminar.   Kaminar, a solar engineer with nearly 40 years of industry experience, explains most of what you need to know about solar modules and how to make a solar system work. 

Read more »