Design/Build
December 1, 2021
Go Small, Live Well
One important step toward making zero energy homes affordable is to make them smaller. However, smaller homes don’t mean sacrificing comfort or function. Here are 20 design ideas that allow you to live big in a small footprint.
Read ArticleSeptember 20, 2021
Act Now: List or Update Your Home in the Inventory of Zero Homes
Tracking the growth of zero energy homes in all their different forms is essential to building momentum for the growth of zero. If you are an owner, builder, or designer of a zero home, be sure your home is listed and help grow the movement toward zero.
Read ArticleSeptember 20, 2021
Thinking Inside the Box
Factory-built homes show great promise for zero energy housing. This company is combining high performance and small size with low cost to meet the housing challenges of the coming decade.
Read ArticleAugust 5, 2021
Zero Homes Are Great: Let’s Make Them Better — Zero 2.0
Ten years ago, making a home or building generate as much energy as it uses over the course of a year seemed an immense challenge. Tens of thousands of these advanced energy-efficient structures have been built. But they need to be better to meet the challenges of climate change, health, security, and resilience. So what’s next? Zero 2.0!
Read ArticleJune 14, 2021
Low Carbon Kitchens
Whether you’re building a new home or replacing worn out appliances, you’ll want to choose products that reduce energy use and your carbon footprint. Some choices are just improved versions of familiar products, and other options may be completely new. Make your next kitchen a 21st century kitchen — ready for our zero carbon future.
Read ArticleJune 14, 2021
Products Used to Get to Zero
You can’t build or remodel a home on the path to zero without buying suitable materials and equipment. That’s why the Zero Energy Project offers a select list of product ideas that can smooth your path to zero. Check out the new products that have been recently added to the Zero Energy Product Directory!
Read ArticleJune 9, 2021
The Mythical Threat to Double-Stud Walls
When choosing a high-performance wall assembly, you have many choices. One of them is to build double-stud walls. The double-stud wall approach sometimes raises the concern that it will lead to mold growth and wood rot. Is this fear based in reality? Green Building Advisor checked it out and found that wood-moisture content and seasonal temperature fluctuations do not seem to create moisture problems in double-stud walls.
Read ArticleMay 7, 2021
Healthy Air in the Best and Worst of Times
Super airtight construction and heat recovery ventilation are necessary companions for zero energy homes. But the outside air may not be as clean as we think. Increasingly common extreme pollution events can overwhelm most fresh air systems. It’s time to make high-efficiency filtration a standard feature of zero homes.
Read ArticleMay 6, 2021
How to Decarbonize the American Household
There’s still time to slow the impact of climate change, but America must act… and fast. This requires a rapid shift to using electric power for everything from household equipment to personal transportation. There’s good news. If done correctly, the transition can save everyone money and create more jobs. We can choose: crisis or opportunity.
Read ArticleApril 15, 2021
Climate Solutions 101
This six-video mini course from Project Drawdown presents a comprehensive overview of available solutions to the climate crisis. The entire set of videos runs only 90 minutes and is packed with facts, making it a great resource for teachers, decision makers, and just about everyone. Unlike many other attempts to describe the climate crisis, these videos are focused on the positive climate actions we can take and it reveals a few surprising facts.
Read ArticleApril 8, 2021
Millennials in a Housing Crisis
Homeownership has been the core of the mythical American Dream, but it has been slow to take hold within the millennial generation. Perhaps the housing sector has not been meeting their needs for small, energy efficient, well connected homes. Well planned zero energy homes can make homeownership more accessible to millennials.
Read ArticleMarch 18, 2021
Factory-built Homes — Another Path to Zero
The future of residential construction will include more factory buildings. BrightBuilt Home builds modular homes that are modern, durable, and zero energy ready. The precision of factory construction is a perfect match for zero energy homes, and BrightBuilt has been building zero energy homes this way since 2010.
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