Jan 30, 2018 | Energy, Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living
Insulation sounds like a really boring thing to even think about, but the number one recommendation coming from a home energy audit is almost always that: improving home insulation will decrease your energy bills and provide a more comfortable, less drafty home. But...
Jan 3, 2018 | Energy, Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living
What is a Home Energy Audit? Does not sound fun, right? It’s really just a guy (usually it’s a guy – women don’t seem to enter this field very frequently) who is specifically trained and certified to be a residential energy auditor — which means he...
Oct 13, 2017 | Energy, Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living
The winters are dark and cold here in Minneapolis, and I had not been not happy with our outdoor lights. They got my attention because we were advised by the police to keep them on all night after a recent burglary. So, in the winter, they are on from about 4:30 pm...
Aug 1, 2017 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living
Some great things are in the works for this site, and by publishing this, I’m holding myself accountable. My plan is to post a tip, at least once per month devoted to living more sustainably. Since sustainability is such a massive subject, it will be...
Jul 1, 2017 | Energy, Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living, Water
Most people think that going green costs more. Sometimes it does (and in many of those cases, it pays back in a reasonable timeframe). But sometimes, it does not cost more – and in that case, they are really no-brainers. If something does not cost more, but it may...
Aug 3, 2011 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, LEED Certification
After taking a year of blogging about getting our home LEED certified, and writing about every minute detail, I wanted to share some key findings. There are 18 prerequisites across eight sections in the rating system. You have to dig through each section of LEED...
Jul 26, 2011 | Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living, Water
Many people ask me what my favorite “green” features of our home are, since we have now lived in it for over two years and can honestly assess whether we would make the same green choice again. While don’t people ask what was the worst choice? What...
Jul 20, 2011 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living, Materials, Trash and Waste
On May 10th, hail pummeled parts of Minneapolis, as you can see in this short video. It was very loud, and I knew it could dent our aluminum flashing around the edges of the roof as well as around our windows. If you look closely in the picture of the green roof,...
Jul 7, 2011 | Energy & Water, Green Home Building/Remodeling, Green Home Living, LEED Certification
We had some major hail damage in Minneapolis back on May 10th (which I write about in a more recent post), and the areas that we have a green roof are the only ones that do not need replacement! I write about the benefits of the green roof in a blog post on a...
May 31, 2011 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, LEED Certification
Now that we finally are LEED Gold Certified, a lot of people have asked me how we got the points to get to the gold level. As a quick recap, LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building...
May 17, 2011 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, LEED Certification
I just found out yesterday from our LEED for Homes Provider that on Monday, May 16th, he had the certification call with the U.S. Green Building Council. As he had expected, we are certified at the gold level with 94 points! Hooray! I’ll get an email...
May 11, 2011 | Green Home Building/Remodeling, LEED Certification
It seems that some people have a hard time grasping how a larger-than-average home can still get LEED Certified. I’d like to address this issue directly, because it’s not the first time it has come up. First, the LEED for Homes rating system does address...
