Lowering energy consumption of houses

Oak Ridge has been conducting research on five prototype houses that cost between 60 cents and one dollar a day in energy costs to operate.

Buildings Technology Center at the Oak Ridge National Labs

We are very close to having zero-energy cost, not zero-energy consumption, and quite frankly that is what our market surveys tell us that is what people care about. If builders can say "I guarantee that I can build you this house, and you are reasonable with your other uses, it will attain zero-energy cost" and that is a big stepping stone and if utilities would buy back the green power at something like $0.22 - $0.23 in our area, then we would be at this zero cost. Right now they are buying back at about $0.15, so we are very close to that very critical stepping stone.

One of the concepts that we have been working on is with low-cost panels and there is a variety of these kind of panels, and as a class they are called structural insulated panels (SIPs). There are some wonderful things coming made from straw, soybeans that would be very sustainable and could be produced very locally.

[link via worldchanging]

Standing up for your gap

This Guildhall in Windsor was built in the late 17th century.

Following the death of the original architect,
the work was continued by Sir Chriptopher Wren.


Time for The Wren Gap:
The story is widely told that the borough Council became worried during construction and demanded that Wren should insert additional columns within the covered area in order to support the weight of the heavy building above.

Wren, however, was adamant that these were not necessary.

Eventually the council insisted and, in due course, the extra supporting columns were built, but Wren made them slightly short, so that they do not quite touch the ceiling, hence proving his claim that they are not necessary!

Whatever the truth of this story, it is undeniable that, to this day, there is a small gap between the columns and the ceiling.