Photovoltaic Systems and Home Solar Power News
This is the most recent project to be built by Studio 804 (the University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design, and Planning design/build program). It’s the first by the group to seek Passive House certification, and, like the Buffalo House, Prescott House was designed and built to LEED Platinum standards. Prescott, located at 32 S 16th Street, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and nearly 1,700 square feet of space. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that it’s…
Copeland Casati, founder of Green Cabin Kits and Green Modern Kits, is busy these days. When she’s not working on her own passive solar casa ti, she’s helping folks across the country with theirs. Casati also just unveiled a revamped and newly engineered Dogtrot Mod Kit House, which is an energy-efficient 1,500 square-foot home with a 500 square-foot screened porch in the middle. Green Cabin Kits aims to provide an affordable option for homeowners in need of something that’s well-designed,…
Announcements from LightFair this week lit up the news world. Lighting Science Group introduced cheap 40-watt and 60-watt replacement Definity LEDs, while Philips unveiled a brighter, more expensive 60-watt replacement EnduraLED. Not content with sitting the sidelines, Osram Sylvania today announced a bright 60-watt replacement LED that outputs 810 lumens. Thus, Osram Sylvania claims they have the brightest LED replacement light on the market for old school 60-watt incandescent bulbs. The Sylvania Ultra LED A-line 12-watt bulb is a second-generation…
Recently we caught wind of a Passive House under construction in North Carolina. Chris Senior, certified Passive House consultant, along with his company Anchorage Building Corporation, the contractor, sent us these media files and a note that the home will be on the Raleigh area NAHB National Green Building Home Tour on May 15 and 22. The ultra low-energy home will have a heavily insulated shell (R20 slab, R42 walls, and R62 roof) with a continuous whole-house air barrier. It…
Today, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) announced the industry’s first replacement for a 60-watt incandescent light bulb. The EnduraLED light screws in just like an incandescent and only uses 12 watts of power while providing 806 lumens. Philips tinkered with the design to provide multi-directional lighting and the phosphors to create just the right color of lighting. Although the retail price hasn’t been determined or announced, Greentech Media is reporting that Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting North America, said…
The energy monitoring space is crowded, but chances are, you’ve seen the EnergyHub here and there. Perhaps you’re in one of three utility pilots testing the product, which was named a Best Invention by Time last year. With EnergyHub, consumers can link up a dashboard, thermostat, plugs, and strips to *both* monitor and control energy use from home, a mobile device, or the internet. Similar to the eMonitor from Powerhouse Dynamics (when paired with smart devices), EnergyHub has the ability…
With Light Fair 2010 next week, there’s a lot of lighting innovation in the pipeline. Take for instance this news we received from the Lighting Science Group. They’ve developed new LED lighting — referred to as the Definity LED line — which they say is rigorously tested and relatively affordable. The lights contain no mercury and are recyclable, dimmable, and long-lasting. The new LED line includes A19, PAR38, PAR30, PAR20, MR16, and G25 bulbs. They’re expected to last 50,000 hours…
Older homes frequently aren’t very energy efficient because power used to be extremely cheap and building codes varied widely. In mild climates, that tended to happen even more. Our home in Oakland was built in 1948 and was far from energy efficient when we bought it: single-pane windows and doors, some of which didn’t close well; original floor furnace; no insulation in the ceiling or walls; drafty fireplace. I’ve done work on the house (and built a small addition), with…
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