Green Options

In the United States today, 21% of all carbon emissions come from our homes.  Even more startling is that, on average, 40% of all energy consumed in our homes is wasted, but is still paid for every month.  Simply bled off into the atmosphere, we lose our heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.  Inefficient buildings not only harm our atmosphere because of all the energy required to run them, but also take a hefty chunk of change [...]

A California architect has constructed a home that heats itself from the warmth of its appliances. Homes like this have been popular in Germany, where a local architect built the first of its kind in 1991, but they are only just starting to catch on here in the States.

[Creative Commons photo by KeWynn Lee]

Nabih Tahan’s “Passive House” on Grant Street in Berkeley is the first one in California. It uses a ventilator to recycle the heat that radiates from the appliances, reducing the use of heat from fossil fuels by 80%-90%.

Whether you do it yourself or leave it to the professionals, conducting a home energy audit will help you determine what improvements you’ll need to make your home more energy efficient, so you can live more comfortably and start saving money on utility bills.

An energy audit requires a look at your annual energy usage and an examination, or walk through, of your home. Unfortunately, since houses aren’t built as energy

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