Archive of posts tagged air quality
Get Your Air Duct In Line
When I was learning about energy efficiency, I saw many photos, slides and videos of leaky and crushed ducts. Many home performance contractors also said that it is common that ducts in homes are leaky, crushed, broken apart or constricted. I’ve heard about them. I’ve seen many evidence of them. Now it hits close to […]
5 Big Reasons for Greening Your Home
In the past people often think that “green” is about recycling and more recently about saving energy. To me, “green” is a collective term for sustainability. Remodeling an existing home or building a new home is a perfect time to incorporate the different aspects of sustainability. Besides saving energy, green homes also save water, provide […]
Choosing A Whole-House Ventilation System
Increasingly, because of either code changes or customer demand, builders are having to take a closer look at whether the new, tight houses they build have adequate ventilation. Many builders would like to provide something better than just a few bath exhaust fans but aren’t sure how to design a simple ventilation system that is […]
Weingarten House at San Benancio – Energy Conservation without Sacrifice
“Freezing in the dark”, is how Ronald Reagan characterized energy conservation. I’ve been thinking about energy matters for about thirty years now and don’t think conservation must mean sacrifice. One goal with this house was to demonstrate that it’s possible to meet the current challenge of sustainability and do better than we have done in […]
Paint
A main issue with household paint is that many ingredients are added to improve the look, longevity and ease of application of the paint. Some of these ingredients are volatile organic compounds (VOCs). According to the EPA, VOCs can cause respiratory, skin, and eye irritation; headaches; nausea; muscle weakness; and more serious ailments and diseases. […]
Cabinets
Cabinets can be expensive to replace so it is important to pick the right ones. From the green remodel perpective, two areas deserve attention. The first is the source of the material which is typically some form of wood. Using material from sustainable source is highly desirable. For instance, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies […]
19 Plants That Can Clean Air In Your Home
A research program in the 1980’s by NASA to keep air fresh in space stations helped discover the role of house plants on indoor air quality. It is well known that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen through the photosynthesis process. The research showed that many house plants which require low light, also absorb […]
A Deep Energy Retrofit Project
Staying in this house was never in the plan. We’d hoped to move into this little house in town for a couple of years, remodel and flip it, and then move to the country to live “off the grid.” But then it happened. We fell in love. Not only with our “little blue house,” but […]