Resilient Design: Natural Cooling

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This exterior window shade in Florida blocks most of the solar gain, yet allows some view out. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Over the past month-and-a-half, I've been focusing on resilient design--which will become all the more important in this age of climate change.

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Building-Integrated PV: New Opportunities for a Bright Future

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BIPV has yet to reach its full potential in the U.S., but a couple companies are giving it a shot.

Soltecture's Corium thin-film CIGS BIPV is installed on the company's headquarters in Berlin.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)--photovoltaic (PV) modules integrated into functional building elements, such as roofs, glazings, and building façades--are fairly common in Europe and Asia. Yet finding commercial BIPV façade products in the U.S. is nearly impossible. Why is that?

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Resilient Design: Passive Solar Heat

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Passive solar design is a key element of creating resilient homes.

A passive solar home in Halifax, Vermont. High-SHGC, triple-glazed, south-facing windows were used to improve the direct-gain passive solar performance.
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LEED Certification Project Submittal Tips from GBCI

GBCI has posted a set of LEED Project Submittal Tips
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A lot of you have asked over the last couple years: What information are LEED reviewers looking at when they're reviewing our LEED documentation, and can't that information be made available to everyone?

In what seems to be a nod in that direction, GBCI has posted a set of LEED Project Submittal Tips for the five major commercial LEED rating systems, including both the current 2009 versions, and the previous 2008 or v2 versions.

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Resilient Design: Dramatically Better Building Envelopes

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A resilient home is a highly energy-efficient home that will maintain livable conditions even during power outages or interruptions in heating fuel.

A superinsulated "Passive House" being built by Dan Whitmore in Seattle. These wall trusses provide about a foot of insulation. Photo: Dan Whitmore. Click on image to enlarge.

When most people think about resilience--resilience to storms or terrorism, for example--they think only about resilience during the event.

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USGBC Recognizes Ten Leaders in Green Education

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USGBC's Center for Green Schools lauds ten groups for taking the lead on green building education.

This student services center, designed by Hill & Wilkinson for the University of Texas–Dallas, is the first building in the UT system to achieve LEED Platinum. Automated terra cotta louvers, seen on the right, help keep the building cool in the extreme Texas heat.
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The 10 Biggest Green Building Stories of 2011

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Windows, carpet chemicals, spray-foam, and LEED lawsuits: these are a few of your favorite things.

It's been a big year for green building. People are tightening up their buildings even as they tighten their belts. The retrofit market and multifamily housing have taken off in a big way in this new financial landscape.

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