Creative Ways to Keep Your Home Cooler Without AC or Whole House Fan
So your home gets too hot and you are looking for ways of addressing the challenge. But how can you do it without installing another appliance and tapping for more…
The Super Homes Project Volunteers Band Together for Low-Carbon Living in UK
So you crave that low-impact, low carbon, environmentally prudish living but what if you live in an older house, are saddled with a mortgage, or don’t have the cash to…
Rooftop Solar Lease Revisited: 5 Disadvantages or the Facts Leasing Companies Don’t Want you to Know
Residential rooftop solar leases have had a good run in the market, and why shouldn’t they…? They require no money upfront for systems that cost thousands of dollars while the…
An Innovative Lightweight Living Roof Design – Planter Box and Trellis Retrofit System
Green roofs are one of the hottest concepts in sustainable living today, but they are not without problems – one of the most serious being, if you try to add…
ISI Tech Claims to Have Invented the Most Energy Efficient Tankless Water Heater Ever (Saves up to 40%)
Anyone who has a tankless water heater can attest – while the energy consumption (compared to a standard tank heater) is considerably lower, these systems tend to be rather unreliable…
Baker’s San Francisco Cottage of The Future: Zero Energy With a 30% Surplus
The future is starting early in San Francisco because of a little (but not so small) cottage that architect David Baker hand-constructed in order to illustrate that not only can you create…
To Can or Not to Can? 5 Practical Reasons to Avoid Can Lighting Your Home
We’ve all seen them and love them – those cozy recessed lights that are so popular around our homes. They are all the rage with builders and modern architects. When…
Ehlers’ Earth-Bermed Home in North Carolina so Bizarre but Energy-Efficient
It all started out as an idea that came to David Ehlers, a North Carolina do-it-yourselfer, as he was working on the basement of his old home, a traditional brick…
Old Sunnyvale Rancher Reincarnates into a Modern Passive House
The modest Sunnyvale, CA ranch house dated back to 1957 and was causing the owners – Jerry and Charlotte and their two young children not a little discomfort with constant…
How to Save Energy With Radiant Floor Heating
This is a brief exchange between members of Acterra’s Green@Home Community members about the joys and challenges of living with radiant floor heating. The insights are offered by Gerry, who…