A climate-resilient city can predict, withstand and recover from climate-related hazards — storms, heatwaves, floods — while maintaining its essential functions and keeping its population safe. Key attributes include a robust infrastructure, renewable energy integration, natural buffers like parks and wetlands, and proactive city planning. These are some of the factors that cities use to anticipate, … Read more
What if we could effectively store millions of tons of carbon in a way that helps solve America’s housing crisis, creates jobs, and boosts manufacturing — all at once? A report issued by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) sheds light on manufacturing building products from up-cycled biomass that’s already abundant across the United States. RMI’s … Read more
Anthony Dente is a licensed engineer and principal at Verdant Structural Engineers and Verdant Building Products and is the vice president of the Cob Research Institute, where he is committed to appropriate material use for all structural building systems. Anthony graduated from the Architectural Engineering program at Penn State University and moved to Berkeley, CA … Read more
After buying an old, rundown stone house in Italy, architect couple Maddalena Cerruti and Vincent Baisnée set about transforming it into the ultimate sustainable home. Renovating the building from scratch, room by room, they used natural and locally sourced materials to turn the crumbling structure into a property that respects their health, the environment and the building’s … Read more
From the outset, Casa AYA aimed to be built in the most sustainable way possible and is the first straw bale home built to PassivHaus standards in Uruguay. The use of concrete was reduced by 93% compared to conventional construction by using raised foundations. This technique allowed the ground profile to remain unaltered, respecting the … Read more
Mike Oehler lived for over 30 years in an underground home that he built for $50 (and expanded for $500) on his land in Northern Idaho near the Canadian border. Now in his seventies his arthritis keeps him from hiking up to his home, but he continues to “write and proselytize” In 1968 like thousands … Read more