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
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
Heidi McCullough is a building specialist for Clean Energy Economy for our Region, or CLEER. “I provide technical support for people looking to build high efficiency or high performance buildings, as well as people who’re looking to improve or upgrade the buildings they already have,” she said. She also helps people and businesses find grants … Read more
Several years ago Kirsten Dirksen’s family embarked on a project where they found a derelict (and affordable) country home located in a tiny, well-maintained castle hamlet 1 hour outside Barcelona, Spain. They began renovation with the help of a young architecture studio. Can a home remodel celebrate the layers of past, present, and future? Do … Read more
Sacramento-based architects Bronwyn Barry, founder of residential design firm Passive House BB, and Andrew Turner, CEO of GoodSpace High Performance Builders, have collaborated to convert an 82-year-old bungalow in Sacramento, CA into a larger living space for the family since they’d outgrown the home, as well as safeguard them from environmental hazards such as heatwaves, … Read more
While temperatures above ground fluctuate throughout the year, the ground temperature is stable. “Every building sits on a thermal asset,” said Cameron Best of Brightcore Energy in New York, which deploys geothermal systems. “I really don’t think there’s any more efficient or better way to heat and cool our homes.” The United States’ first networked … Read more