How to stop condensation on windows

Condensation on windows is a common phenomenon that occurs in many homes. Many think it’s caused by the quality of windows, but this is not the only factor that explains the problem.

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Sustainable Home Design Meets Stanford Climate Scientist

What kind of a new home would be fitting for a leading climate scientist who has dedicated his scientific career to proving the world can quickly transition off fossil fuel?

In alignment with his life’s work, when professor Mark Z. Jacobson decided to build his house in Stanford, he pursued an energy-efficient design that generates all its own energy from renewable sources.

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BONE Structure Building System

BONE Structure: A Building System Unlike the Rest

A sweeping wave of green building regulations is making its way across North America, with various states, provinces, cities and municipalities setting dates and targets for Net Zero Energy Efficiency and Zero Waste building requirements. Poised to change the construction industry, these regulations have a profound impact on the way homebuilding is approached, and are catapulting building systems to the forefront.

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Project 12-249

Fusing Luxury with Energy Efficiency

Green Home Builder Magazine | April 2017, by Charles Bovet

Sustainability is becoming a top of mind issue for luxury home design. Just as the market for high end electric cars is exploding, there is equal demand and desire for beautiful homes that are “healthy,” both for the environment and for their inhabitants.

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4 common myths about building a new home | By Gaudencio Garcinuño (Sesion Hippie) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

4 Common Myths About Building a Green Home

Treehuggers and Hippies, Move Over.  Here are 4 common myths about building a green home.

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Project 08-008

5 Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Healthy House, Happy Home.  Home should be the place we feel our best—safe, comfortable and surrounded by favorite people and things. But if your house has poor indoor air quality then home won’t feel like a sanctuary. Headaches, cold-like symptoms, dizziness and fatigue are a few of the health effects you’ll experience when inside air contains allergens and irritants. Unfortunately, too many people feel bad in their own homes, and there’s even a name for it: Sick house syndrome.

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Get to Zero Net Energy the BONE Structure Way

Get to Zero Net Energy the BONE Structure Way

Zero Net Energy (ZNE) is fast becoming the gold standard for high quality buildings. It is a simple concept: produce as much energy on site as you will use over the course of the year. It is, however, not an easy to reach goal.

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Has California Given up on the American Dream?

Has California Given up on the American Dream?

Buying a home in California is a dream increasingly out of reach for many residents. Only about half of the state’s residents currently own their own homes.

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Construction demolition waste

Why the home building industry doesn’t care about energy efficiency or waste

In general, most large conventional homebuilders build to code and no more. In most states, building to code means the home won’t fall down, but this is not the same thing as being excellent. In fact, it means that most homes are only built to the very minimum standard required by law.

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Gregory Peck | The Alliance to Save Energy even went so far as to hire Gregory Peck in an effort to make a 1979 public service announcement on energy efficiency more appealing.

How Building in California is Different

Everyone knows California is a little different than the rest of the United States. Some people take great inspiration from that fact, and others fear it.

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