Spotlight Article:
Trailer Treasure—Affordable Housing, Green Living, Community, Income in an Unlikely Place
The American dream of homeownership for all is not particularly healthy these days. Housing prices in some areas have already returned to pre-Great Recession (2006) levels. According to the Trulia real estate website, the median price ...
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Best Practices for Sealing HVAC Systems
Energy Star programs are requiring more expertise from HVAC crews. Here are some helpful training hints. [continue reading]
Creating EQuilibrium in Canada
Twelve Canadian home builder teams were recently selected as winners of Canada Mortgage and Housng Corporation (CMHC)’s EQuilibrium sustainable housing competition. The competition was organized by CMHC to support the ... [continue reading]
Managing Moisture
Q I enjoyed reading your article on the home you recently built in Ohio (“Design, Construction, and Performance in Ohio,” Jan/Feb ’07, p. 36). I am an architect practicing in the Pacific Northwest (... [continue reading]
Dreaming of Windows
Q We are building a new passive-solar home and have had difficulty finding commercially available low-U, high solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) windows. The specs quoted for the windows in the Home ... [continue reading]
New Solar Homes Partnership
A unique blend of energy-efficient solar homes will emerge in California’s new-home marketplace in 2007, under the California Energy Commission’s New Solar Homes Partnership. “Our program is intended to transform the ... [continue reading]
HERS Inspections of New Homes
The New Solar Home Partnership (NSHP) is a ten-year, $350 million program to subsidize PV systems in new homes. The NSHP, which is being implemented by the California Energy Commission (CEC), offers performance-based rebates for PV ... [continue reading]
Maximizing the Benefits of Zero-Energy Homes
There is an emerging trend in energy programs for new homes to shift from a focus on the use of individual high-performance components to a focus on overall home performance. Key examples of this trend ... [continue reading]
Energy Efficiency and Solar Electricity Go Hand in Hand
While zero-energy homes (ZEHs) are still more of a goal than a reality, near-zero-energy homes—those that produce as much electricity, but not quite as much total energy, as the residents consume—are ... [continue reading]
Building Performance Journal Editors
Our Blog Has Moved
Thanks for your interest in contributing a blog to the Building Performance Journal (formerly Home Energy magazine). We’re ...
Jim Gunshinan
Is Energy Efficiency an American Value?
Energy efficiency is good for the economy, good for families, good for workers, and good for the environment.
