Green Building : Jetson Green

Greener Jobs: Build It Green, LEED Linc, and Green Key Real Estate

We just opened up a free, beta service for readers at Greener Jobs this week.  The response has been great, and the site has three new job listings already.  If you're a company and you want to step out in front of smart, green talent, we'll try to help you out with our free listings.  If you're the smart, green talent, don't disappoint us.  Check these positions out:

• Event Project Manager, Build It Green, Berkeley / Bay Area, CA
• LEED AP Sales Exec, LEED Linc, Great Barrington, MA
• Real Estate Agent, Green Key Real Estate, SF / Bay Area, CA

Also, follow @greenerjobs on Twitter for more green job listings.

A Smart Green Living Zero Home

This is the Living Zero Home, which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy and built by All American Homes.  The home was on display in Chicago last weekend and will move to about fifteen other destinations throughout the year, including Louisville, Greensboro, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver, among other cities.  The modern demonstration home features a Smart Living System -- both an energy management and home monitoring tool -- which helps owners save money and provides an alert for potential problems, such as a water pipe leak.  The home includes a number of other green elements, too:

New Service: Green Building Jobs

You may have noticed in Saturday's Week in Review, but we're now rolling out a free, beta green building jobs service.  We've added a link to the navigation above and already published a couple great looking job opportunities.  The market can be tough on all of us -- whether you're a company in need of remarkable employees or an employee in need of remarkable opportunities -- make sure to use Greener Jobs. 

The Waxman-Markey Building Energy Performance Labeling Program

There's been a lot of talk about various green building provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (HR 2454 or "ACES"), but there's one specific section of ACES that deserves more attention.  Section 204 needs to be included in the green building discussion, because this is where the Building Energy Performance Labeling Program is.  With this program, as we predicted with our Seven Green Trends, the federal government could lay the foundation for true and legitimate building environmental impact labels.  Let's talk about this unprecedented policy, with a little background discussion. 

Reclaimed Prefab Auctioned for $75k

After nine bids on eBay, some lucky duck ended up with a reclaimed prefab for $75,100.  The prefab was built by Reclaimed Space for Dwell on Design and the proceeds went to both Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles and Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity.  Ecofabulous created the interior using a number of stylish, green products.  According to the eBay listing, this 400 square foot home included the following:

Dwell Refab Set for eBay Auction

Update 6/25/09: the eBay listing is live!

A little over six months ago, we took a quick look at the reclaimed prefabs being built by Austin-based Reclaimed Space.  Then, last week we mentioned they'd have a prefab home on display at this weeks' Dwell on Design.  Now, after talking with the guys at Reclaimed Space this weekend, we have some additional news.  Their new home for Dwell on Design is going to be auctioned off through eBay starting Tuesday, June 23, 2009.  When the listing goes live, we'll update this article, but here's some more information behind the auction ...

Small Style at Dwell on Design 2009

Dwell on Design keeps getting bigger and better every year, and the Dwell Outdoor exhibit promises to be just right for these (un)extravagant times.  The modern design event will be held from Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  The entire program will be diverse and compelling, but I'm particularly intrigued by the lineup of four small structures planned for the 15,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit space.  Check these out:

Small Wind Market Surges 78%, U.S. Manufacturers Making Money!

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) just released a new report, the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Global Market Study, detailing a sizable advance in the small wind turbine market in the United States.  Small wind turbines, you may know, are those with a capacity of 100 kW or less.  And the U.S. market for this niche grew 78% in 2008, with a total of 17.3 (MW) of new installed capacity.  The report indicates that the growth is due, in large part, to private equity investment in the sector, as well as economies of scale, rising electricity prices, and heightened public interest. 

Sadly, Green Prefab Firm Michelle Kaufmann Designs is Shutting Down

Update 5-27-09: Michelle Kaufmann explains what's next.

A short few hours ago, an article popped up on the LA Times website breaking the unfortunate news that Michelle Kaufmann Designs is shutting down by the end of this week.  Despite the fact that the article was written by Christopher Hawthorne -- pretty much the most authoritative architecture critic on the West Coast, the news was hard to process.  This is the firm that's built 40 green prefab houses, including the mkLotus, mkSolaire Smart Home, and a number of other beautiful green prefabs!  MKD can't close its doors!  But in an email late this afternoon, Michelle confirmed the news. 

World's First Active House in Denmark

The Guardian just published an interesting article about the world's first Active House.  An Active House, as compared to a super low-energy Passive House, is a highly efficient home that captures more energy than the occupants need for heat and power.  In particular, this Denmark Active House should generate enough electricity over 30 years to cancel out the energy costs of building it.  And it operates like a machine: a computer monitors the temperature and climate of the interior and opens, closes, and adjusts windows accordingly.