Eric Michael Stitt, a journalist for The Beach Reporter, very kindly featured our house tours event in the Hermosa Beach section of the paper this week: http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2012/02/16/hermosa_beach_news/news09.prt
We also wanted to make sure the other key sponsors of the event, the U.S. Green Building Council/South Bay Branch and Energy Upgrade California,
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We want to express our sincere appreciation to all of you for making Saturday a huge success. The event was booked solid a week in advance and over 200 people came out for tours and the educational expo. We had to turn people away to ensure the safety of everyone
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The U.S. Green Building Council, Energy Upgrade CA and Leadership Hermosa Beach have asked us to give a series of construction tours on February 11th. The tours will showcase the innovative technologies that make the Green Idea House net zero energy, zero carbon and responsive to the environment in terms
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The U.S. Green Building Council, Energy Upgrade CA and Leadership Hermosa Beach have asked us to give a series of construction tours on February 11th. The tours will start at noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm and will be followed by a networking/ green networking event at one of the local
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We were given permission to turn on our 6.5kw solar array this week. That means that our LED holiday lights (adorned with ornaments that we made from the scrap metal leftovers from our stucco contractor) and the electric power tools that we are using on site are now offset by
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We will be giving one of our periodic construction updates to City Council this evening. The meeting starts at 7pm and we should be presenting shortly thereafter. You can also view the meeting on Verizon Fios Ch. 31, Warner Cable Ch.8, and online at www.hermosabch.org under Agendas/Minutes/Video.
During
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On Wednesday, a video production crew from Ogilvy Advertising came to interview us re our choice to use SolarWorld PV panels on the GIH. Their Marketing Manager, Minnie Dimesa and the Ogilvy team made the whole thing fun. We look forward to seeing what they make of it!
Yesterday’s paper printed our letter (http://tinyurl.com/3e3jtb4) combined with a response from one of the uphill neighbors in the article from Saturday’s front page (http://tinyurl.com/3lketza). We are glad to see the neighbors are starting to understand that our solar array will be BELOW the height limit and we are building in
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As we look forward to the start of our solar panel installation this week, we would like to set the record straight re a couple of articles in our local papers on the height of our solar panels. Here are the facts:
Our uphill neighbors would have lost their first story
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Watching Bill McDonough’s expanded version of his TED talk at the Dwell conference Friday night was extraordinary. He is one of the key sources of inspiration for the Green Idea House.
Ed took the stage Sunday afternoon with a vigor and clarity that was masked in the nature of his “living
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Many thanks to the Easy Reader reporter Rebecca Zisser for a great article. During the tour she was very engaged, asked great questions and ultimately turned in a wonderful report. Thank you for your interest in spreading the word.
P.S. One small correction: “Fortunato first became interested in green technology
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We really appreciated the opportunity to be in the Water and Energy Expo in the morning and on the EPN Green and Solar house tour circuit in the afternoon.
We were impressed by the interested and engaged group that showed up. Thanks to all our friends (old and new) that
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We have been invited to talk about the Green Idea House during two events on Saturday the 21st:
1. Our partners West Basin Water District and So Cal Edison are putting on a Water and Energy Smart Expo. They have set up a booth for us to explain the Green Idea
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Dency Nelson, the most passionate activist we know and one of the first supporters of the GIH, is featured in SouthBay Magazine
Despite budgetary concerns and the threat of a $700 million lawsuit against the city by MacPherson Oil, the Hermosa Beach City Council showed their commitment to being the first carbon neutral city in Los Angeles County last night when they unanimously voted to waive all permit and plan check fees
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Passive Heating & Cooling via Proper Eave Depth
This is the first massing model we created of our house. We built it with a free program called Sketchup. we started designing the project with a massing model we created in Sketchup, a free drawing program from google that does
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The GreenPoint Rated label is the mark of quality for green home construction. It is a recognizable, independent seal of approval that verifies a home has been built or remodeled according to proven green standards. To make sure that every GreenPoint Rated home is healthy and efficient from the inside
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Passive Solar Heating in the Winter
This diagram depicts how the thermal mass wall in the stairwell
collects heat in the winter and stays cool in the summer
During summer months, the south facing lightwell window is shaded and prevents overheating.
During the winter months the low angles of the sun heats the thermal
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Without cheap energy ancient people had to understand the arc of the sun and thermal mass to be comfortable. The oldest inhabited caves face south to maximize the benefits of the sun. We’ve simply forgotten.
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, Colorado
2pm June 17, 2008
We don’t inherit the land from our
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Redistributing the Solar Heat Gain
This diagram depicts how the heat from the thermal mass wall can be distributed
1. The low angle sun during winter months allows for sunlight to heat a thermal mass inside the lightwell.
2. Hot air naturally rises to the top of the lightwell and is collected by
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Thermal Cooling in the Summer
Thermostatically controlled windows at the top of the stairwell create a natural drafting effect as hot air rises out of the building
1.In summer months, the overhang of the roof prevents sunlight from entering the lightwell and overheating the interior.
2.As interior air warms, it rises to toward
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Net zero energy means harvesting as much energy as you use on an annualized basis. It is our key objective because there a lot of prescriptive standards our there, but most are not performance based. Net zero energy gives us a verifiable target that tells us how the building
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Solar Heat Gain through the Glazing can either help us or hurt us in getting to net zero. Different awning and glazing solutions are dependent on the orientation in relation to the arc of the sun.
Solar Heat Gain through the Glazing can either help us or hurt us in getting to net zero. Different awning and glazing solutions are dependent on the orientation in relation to the arc of the sun.
The Useful Daylight Index helps us keep the lights off when the sun is
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Green Idea House attends the Solar Power International Show – America’s Largest Solar Event, Oct 27-29, Anaheim, California
WOW! It was a sea of vendors (about 750) from all over the world in the exhibition hall. Competition is good…
At the show we were evaluating both thermal (hot water) and
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Green Idea House was featured On October 22, 2009 when Congresswoman Jane Harman issued a statement (which very kindly included a reference to our project) in support of H.R. 3585, the Solar Technology Roadmap Act, which passed the House by a 310 to 106 vote. The release contains a
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Robert and Carter attended the Solar Decathlon in Washington DC last weekend.
Robert’s favorite: Automated louver-covered windows by team Germany
Carter’s Favorite: a solar popcorn popper by University of Arizona
