The best green building program you've never heard of is probably Enterprise Green Communities. Everyone knows about LEED, of course. Regional programs, such as EarthCraft House and Minnesota GreenStar, also have name recognition in their areas. But unless you've been…
Yesterday I read a short interview with Rick Fedrizzi,* the CEO of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and it got me to thinking about that organization. They're probably the largest, most well known green building organization in the world.…
Habitat for Humanity is showing that affordable housing and high-performance homes isn't an either/or choice. They've been doing great work and going in this direction for a long time, but in the past 5 years, they've really stepped it up…
A few months back, I received the following email about payment to design the HVAC system for a new ENERGY STAR home. The author of the email is a home energy rater, and my client. The “HVAC guy” is the…
I talk about homes here in the Energy Vanguard blog all the time - new ENERGY STAR homes, HVAC systems to heat and cool homes, home energy audits... Today I'm going to talk about the homeless. I talk about homes…
A couple of months ago, I was reading a discussion in one of the many LinkedIn groups that I belong to and came acros a comment arguing that energy efficiency requirements drive builders out of business. Here's part of what…
The last time I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, Icynene was not a household name, and many homeowners had never heard of a Blower Door and Duct Blaster. (Well, OK, you're right. They're not exactly household names now either, but…