January 25, 2024

Heat Pump Clothes Dryers: Low-Impact Laundry

Heat pump clothes dryers are an exciting, relatively new electrification technology. One can cut perhaps 10% of your household energy use.

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January 19, 2023

Electrifying? You May Not Need an Electrical Panel Upgrade

Abandoning gas for all-electric appliances? The electrical panel is the unsung hero of any home electrification project.

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January 2, 2023

Cold Climate Heat Pumps Warm Homes on the Coldest Days

We know that decarbonization requires electrifiction, and we know that heat pumps work in many situations. But many people still wonder: Will heat pumps work in cold temperatures?

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September 22, 2022

Highlighting Useful Technologies for Getting to Zero: The New Zero Energy Project Product Directory

Building materials and equipment play a key role in the efficiency and affordability of zero energy buildings. This is why we’re proud to introduce the Zero Energy Project Product Directory to help builders identify appropriate products and to stimulate the supply chain to provide products that will draw the building sector toward greater energy efficiency.

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January 14, 2022

Net-Zero vs Passive House: What are the Similarities and Differences?

Hint: The Answer Goes Beyond Green Building Buzz Words

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November 12, 2021

Shedding Light on the “Dark Side” of Solar Power 

The dark side of solar power includes trashing millions of used solar panels and batteries in landfills, intermittent production, and taking large tracts of land out of productive use. But new recycling approaches, and energy management and land use strategies are keeping the light on solar. It has a bright future.

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September 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.

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September 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. 

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August 6, 2021

Financing Energy-Efficient Housing on a Massive Scale 

There is one major obstacle to the widespread transition to zero energy homes: The mortgage industry has been slow to recognize their higher market value and reluctant to finance the additional upfront cost of financially sound energy efficiency features. One solution is a system to create mortgage backed securities specifically for energy efficient homes. 

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August 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! 

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May 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.

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May 6, 2021

How To Sell Zero To Anybody

Selling a zero energy home is just like selling a conventional one, except zero homes offer so much more. Connecting the buyer’s priorities to the added benefits of zero homes makes the sale easier and more profitable for everyone. 

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