Tag: Housing Industry - Page 6
-
Michelle Kaufmann's New Prefab Series Explores the Power of Zero
As the name implies, the Zero series homes are all about nothing...nothing wasted, that is. The designs abide by the same basic
-
Life Cycle Analysis Shows The True Environmental Cost of Swimming Pools
Not surprisingly, hot places like Phoenix or Palm Springs have a lot of backyard pools. Warren wrote recently about their environmental cost in terms of energy and water, but a new life cycle analysis of all of the inputs and
-
Hybridcore Homes May Be the Best of Both Worlds Between Prefab and Site Built
TreeHugger has waxed ecstatic over the benefits of prefabricated housing as a way of delivering better quality with less waste and energy, and we hoped at a lower price, yet somehow the industry never delivered what it promised. There were a couple of
-
Garden Shed Home Offices Sprouting Up in UK
The backyard-shed-as-home-office idea is catching on in North America, but it is nothing compared to what is going on in the UK. There, they are being promoted as turnkey solutions that reduce commuting, save money for companies, and are being offered
-
Vancouver's EcoDensity Program Produces an Explosion of Small Green Modern Design
It takes guts to make change happen, and some cities have them, others don't. In Vancouver, they changed the regulations to permit housing in back lanes, calling it EcoDensity; it is a carefully crafted bit of legislation that protects views
-
One Family Homes To Solve New York's Congestion (Not)
The website Sunday Magazine has an interesting idea: it looks at the New York Times Sunday Magazine of exactly 100 years ago for the most interesting article. A century ago this Sunday they covered the hottest planning idea: Single family houses in
-
Vision Zero Demo House Shows Zero Vision
Houses of the future just aren't what they used to be. These days, the vision of the future people want to see is exactly what they have now, the big suburban house with a three car garage. So that is what Dow Chemical and Cobblestone Homes
-
London Home Show Features Modern,Experimental and Green Buildings
Images by B. Alter Grand Designs Live is a biiiiig show, covering every aspect of home design: building products, gardens, interior design, technology and show homes. It's a great place to gather ideas and information and it is quite environmental in
-
Earth Advantage Institute Makes Earth Day Predictions For Housing Ten Years From Now
The Earth Advantage Institute promotes a green building standard from the Northwest that combines the energy requirements of Energy Star with healthy home attributes like air quality, environmental responsibility and and resource efficiency. I thought
-
What is the Matrix? Four Appliances In One.
27% of North America's greenhouse gas comes from the production of electric power, so it makes sense to use as little of it as possible. That is why I am not as enthusiastic about ground source heat pumps as many
-
Good Luck Financing Your Dream Green House
At the start of the mortgage crisis, I wrote:
-
So Long Suburbia: Construction in US Cities Shifting Back to Urban Core
The boundless growth of suburban sprawl in the US, long blamed for everything from climate change to social segregation, may finally be slowing down. According to a new study by the EPA, new construction in the
-
Gorgeous Radiators From Jaga Save Energy And CO2
Very few houses have hydronic (hot water radiator) heating in North America; most have forced air systems with ductwork that does double duty as heating and air conditioning, supplying air to the wrong place at least half of the year. Almost everyone
-
Affresol: Prefab Houses Made From Plastic Landfill
It may well be the ugliest house we have shown on TreeHugger, and it is made of garbage, too. But Ian McPherson of Welsh startup Affresol takes plastic waste, grinds it down to little granules. They then mix it with liquid resin and pour it like
-
Can One Call Mitch Kapor's Berkeley House "Green"?
There is a fight going on in Berkeley, over the construction of a house for Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus and creator of Lotus 123, the program that made personal computers useful.
-
Energy Savvy Gives Homeowners Tools for Zapping Energy Waste
Images via EnergySavvyEnergySavvy is the newest tool to hit the web for homeowners looking to minimize wasted energy. By creating a profile of your home and getting a score based on your current energy efficiency, you can find out the various ways to
-
House Was Hidden In Hay To Get Around Planning Laws. Should It Be Demolished?
A while back we discussed Robert Fidler's castle in Surrey, which he built on controlled agricultural land. It was one of the most blatant and ingenious methods of getting round the rules; instead of covering it with a green roof like everyone else
-
Blu Homes Unfolds A Reinvention of Modular Housing
I first heard of Blu Homes when they purchased the intellectual assets of Michelle Kaufmann back at the end of September. There was not a lot of information about them at the time, and having been in the modular
