working-architect / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Efficient green home design choices
Concept and design

Efficient home design, or how to design a home to use less energy

The  principles of green building: High performance, energy efficient homes may include features like geothermal heating, wind power and solar panels, but these are not the defining features of green living. They come in second, and some you can even do without. A green home starts with being well-designed, well-insula...

Furnace not heating? Furnace Troubleshooting & Easy DIY Fixes
Heating and cooling

How to troubleshoot a furnace that won’t work.

There are a few things that will cause any furnace to either stop running, or only deliver cold air, so here are a few easy DIY furnace repair tips that may get you warmed up without having to call an HVAC professional. It is at least a place to start, so you aren’t paying someone to come tell you that your thermostat ...

heat pumps in tandem with heat pump hot water tanks
Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

Increased efficiency with heat pumps working in tandem

Our previous update covered aspects of the building envelope, which allowed us to reduce the annual heating requirement to about the Passive House standard of 15 kWh per square meter. Windows are a part of that but they are also part of our energy performance strategy. The house is laid out south facing to maximize pas...

The Archipod
Tiny house

Have a backyard home office delivered by truck

I'm sure we can all agree that as the cost and inconvenience of commuting to work continues to escalate, the advances in networking technology are making the possibility of working from home a viable alternative to schlepping ourselves to the office. When we consider eliminating the daily commute, the benefits are clea...

Sorting home recyclable materials at a recycling center
Lifestyle and environment

Why recycling is important, and how to recycle correctly at home

Spending more time at home in the last few months since Covid-19 redefined our reality has presented many with an opportunity to clean, rearrange furniture and make lifestyle modifications. One thing we noticed at home was that some of the items that found their way into our recycle bin, or worse, the trash bin, really...

The high performance almost ZNE Warburg house by bioi - built for under $100,00
Efficient home design

A High Performance Home on a Shoe String Budget (Almost ZNE!)

On a wooded Canadian farmstead in rural Alberta, the new house replaced an old home that was no longer able to fulfill its function. The architectural concept for the new home was simple: open, flexible, efficient (almost Zero Net Energy), and for an economical budget - not everyone can manage to build affordable net z...

Can I legally put a Tiny House on my Property?
Tiny house

How can I put a Tiny House on my property legally in the USA ?

Getting Tiny houses approved as habitatable dwelling units on your property Getting a Tiny House installed legally on a property is often possible, once you know how. The Tiny Home Industry Association (THIA) works with states and communities to help them realize there is a new trend towards smaller homes, and to find ...

The Affordable Architect-Designed Modern Green prefab 2 Bed kit home
Off-grid and Net-Zero Housing

Le Refuge - An Architect-Designed modern Green prefab 2 bed kit home

The tiny house movement is on the far end of the scale of a very encouraging and growing trend towards modern smaller home sizes. Small homes take less materials to build than large homes, and they consume less energy to operate. Ergo, smaller homes are ‘greener’ homes. At least most of the time…  Tiny houses are on on...

Le Refuge - An Architect-Designed Modern Green prefab tiny house kit home
Tiny house

Le Refuge - An Architect-Designed modern Green prefab tiny house kit home

The tiny house movement is on the far end of the scale of a very encouraging and growing trend towards modern smaller home sizes. Small homes take less materials to build than large homes, and they consume less energy to operate. Ergo, smaller homes are ‘greener’ homes. At least most of the time…  Tiny houses are on o...

Kitchen and Bathroom design tips
Kitchens

Design ideas for durable kitchens and bathrooms

Water and moisture wreak havoc on homes, affecting function, durability and our health. Given that kitchens and bathrooms are the main source of humidity, we need to put extra thought into designing these rooms so they consume less, last longer, and help us maintain healthier homes. Durable water resistant surfaces wil...

Lifestyle, location and commuting

Home-buying tips for seniors looking to downsize

More and more seniors are buying homes now as the downsizing trend is in full effect. If you’re on the fence about relocating to a new home and dread the thought of house hunting, packing, and moving, you should know that the process is much easier now than it was when you were searching for the perfect house for your ...