Net Zero: The new goal posts

This is a story about where we live and the energy we use to live there and the tantalizing prospect of actually producing all the energy we need on an annual basis – its a new way of thinking about building what are called Zero Net Energy homes. The best place...

Saving Energy with a Thick Skin

We’re just closing up the building “envelope” on a Passive House project in Farmington. This is always an important milestone in the project because we get to test how effectively our air sealing strategy is performing while we can still get at any...

Nature’s Energy Audit

These days we are using blower doors and infrared cameras to measure and observe where and how our homes leak air and waste energy. We call this an Energy Audit and it helps us diagnose failures in a homes system of enclosure – the building...

Energy Diet Choices Matter

Like someone on a diet who wonders why, despite their best efforts, they can’t seem to lose weight, we sometimes make mistakes in our choices to save energy in our homes. Unless you knew better you’d expect that these seemingly sensible energy saving...
Built Different. Built Better.

Built Different. Built Better.

My career started in the 70’s as a house painter.  A painter touches the surfaces of each project three times: Prep. Prime. Paint. Over dozens of projects I saw and touched every finished part of a house, inside and out. As a result I got to know the parts and how...

How Precious is Energy? Ask Your Troops!

Do we appreciate what energy is? Do fish know they’re wet? Like clueless fish, we’ve lived within a world of cheap available energy our whole lives. We have no visceral understanding of how remarkable this actually is. For instance, what’s a Watt? How’s this for a...