Sustainable North

From the New York Times on Monday, December 29, 2008:
Call it CSI: Thermal Police — energy experts armed with mostly low-tech tools but strong sleuthing skills, finding flaws that let the air inside a house go through a full exchange with the outdoors twice an hour, instead of once every two or three hours.
Correct those [...]

[Read more →]

From the New York Times on Friday, December 26, 2008:
In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the [...]

[Read more →]

From buildingGreen.com, retrieved on Tuesday, December 23, 2008:
Three of the products this year save energy, including a low-cost, solar water-heating system; a combination heating, water heating, and heat-recovery ventilation system; and a system for monitoring real-time energy (and water) use in buildings. Water saving products are represented by a line of rainwater storage tanks—the first [...]

[Read more →]

Another posting from Fairbanks homeowners Rocky Reifenstuhl and Gail Koepf.

There are many things to consider once you have decided to build, starting with location. 
Assess the neighborhood, covenants and surrounding properties.  What utilities are available?  Is it on a bus route or within an easy commute to your job?  Does view potential play a role?  [...]

[Read more →]

Another posting from Fairbanks homeowners Rocky Reifenstuhl and Gail Koepf.

To Build or Not to Build, that is the Question.  If you have to ask that question, you should probably stop reading here & hire a realtor.  The amount of time and energy involved in building your house can be tremendous, and that cost must not [...]

[Read more →]

Gail Koepf and Rocky Reifenstuhl, Fairbanks, Alaska homeowners, are building a new home using sustainable, energy efficient techniques. CCHRC staff are filming aspects of the construction for use in a future “Best Practices” video about homebuilding in the North. The following is the first entry from Gail’s ongoing journal about the project. We will continue [...]

[Read more →]

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, on Saturday, December 6, 2008:

In early winter 2008, Fairbanks [Alaska] has had some of the worst air quality ever recorded, according to Jim Conner, an air quality specialist for the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
“We exceeded (federal air quality) standards in October this year for the first time,” Conner said. “It [...]

[Read more →]

From the Anchorage Daily News, Wednesday, December 9, 2008:
The Alaska Energy Authority has agreed to spend $20,000 to analyze whether energy-efficient wood boilers would be cheaper to use than heating oil for the roughly 50,000-square-foot school being built near Talkeetna. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which requested the study, has also chipped in $5,000. …
Local residents cooked [...]

[Read more →]

From the website “Solar House, Solar Home,” retrieved on 11/11/08:
Just after January 1, 2000, I left the 20th Century and I haven’t been back since. If your attention is rooted in the 21st Century, you only need your eyes and ears to understand that energy efficiency and sustainability will be the unfolding story of our [...]

[Read more →]

From the New York Times, on Friday, November 7, 2008:
Last month, Senator Barack Obama became — as far as we know — the first nominee to urge Americans to “weatherize your home” in a presidential debate.
With winter coming and Mr. Obama headed to the White House, it may be a good time to do just [...]

[Read more →]