Blog image

The Great Passivhaus Face-off

Posted October 21, 2009 3:50 PM by Mark Piepkorn
Related Categories: Living Future, Op-Ed, Politics
The low energy use of the first Passivhaus in Bremen, Germany, is surprising, especially since the house has neither solar collectors, nor a PV array, nor a boiler.
I've been a big fan of building scientist John Straube for a long time. And equally as big of a fan, for just as long, of deep-energy engineer Marc Rosenbaum.

Living Future 08 'Unconference' Proceedings Online

Posted October 9, 2008 11:09 AM by Mark Piepkorn
Related Categories: Books & Media, Events, Living Future, Product Talk, The Industry
Back on May 6, Jennifer Atlee posted here on this blog:
"If I could adopt a conference, it would be the USGBC Cascadia chapter's Living Future 'Unconference'. As someone who generally prefers to stay behind the scenes talking shop, it was a delight to find myself surrounded primarily by the obsessed of the green building world..."
She went on to briefly describe some highlights of the event, and even provided her notes from the presentation she gave, "Be a Product Detective: Sleuthing the Truth About Building Materials". Now here's some great news for those of us who weren't there: The Living Future 08 conference is now online. Follow these links to audio tracks, powerpoint files, program descriptions, and presenter bios: · Living Building: Energy and Carbon Neutrality
· Wholistic Engineering: Applied to a Living Building Water System
Jennifer Atlee has posted notes from the session she co-presented at USGBC Cascadia chapter's Living Future 'Unconference'. See them here.

The Unconference

Posted May 6, 2008 6:13 PM by Jennifer Atlee
Related Categories: Events, Living Future, The Industry
If I could adopt a conference, it would be the USGBC Cascadia chapter's Living Future 'Unconference'. As someone who generally prefers to stay behind the scenes talking shop, it was a delight to find myself surrounded primarily by the obsessed of the green building world. Even better, as presenters we were encouraged to bring our own big challenges to the table and get attendees to help us address them — which is exactly what we and many other presenters did. (More about that later, I hope.) First, this is the only conference I've been to where I left with less stuff than I started with! Yes, you could buy a conference T-shirt (lovely, organic, low-impact dyes, made in the USA), and I did get some green building playing cards, but there was no bag full of conference papers and booth swag. Instead, at registration we were each given a paper nametag and a single tri-fold with the conference schedule. For details, you had to wrest control of one of two computers hooked up to a screen set to scroll through sessions.

Recent Comments


Why Can’t I Buy a Non-Toxic Sofa?

Andrea Lemon says, "

I too have been trying to find a non-toxic sofa and am frustrated by the lack of options.

I have a ratty-looking but structurally-sound sofa...

" More...


Have Your Wood or Pellet Stove and Cleaner Air Too

Barbara A. Smith says, "

I am a little (a lot) late to this conversation, but I think the only wood-burning appliances should be direct vent masonry ovens which burn at...

" More...


The Mismeasure of Buildings: Five Reasons Life-Cycle Assessment Will Not Give Us Zero-Impact Design

Alex Bruce says, "

...

" More...


7 Tips to Get More from Mini-Split Heat Pumps in Colder Climates

Paula Melton says, "

Tanya, the guest author has shared this reply with me via email.

 

Hi Tanya,

I agree totally with Tristan. The first...

" More...

Tristan Roberts says, "

Hi Tanya, I'm going to punt on this question, but hopefully in a way that is helpful. There are a lot of advantages to mini-split systems, but...

" More...