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Green Building News This year’s winners in Phius’ Passive Projects Design Competition reveal the standard’s evolution and developers’ appetite for high-performance building. By Justin R. Wolf | November 3, 2026 Building rating systems all have this in common: They are the products of systems thinking. The methodologies and philosophies that inform each one (e.g., LEED, […]

Climate zone is 6B, south-central MN.  Due to building layout & the desire to not see the condenser from inside the house, the location will be on the north side of the house, which I understand is not ideal.  Currently there is full exposure there with no wind break from trees. In the attached picture […]

Q&A Spotlight An owner-designer weighs the advantages of central ductwork and individual minisplits for a small, high-performance home By Chuck Bickford | November 2, 2026 Unless you live near or south of the equator, heating season has arrived. Choosing a heating and cooling system for a new home can be complicated, particularly when the house […]

I have to detail this weird little wall section that’s a result of one roof section stopping about 4 feet short of the other. The lighter coloured horizontal strapping is where the full length sheet of siding will reach. I do have some drip flashing to cover the intersection, but the resulting top section is […]

Proposed Coal Plant System Would Treat 200,000 Gallons of Wastewater a Day With Waste Heat A nine-month first phase will work out the site, engineering and environmental needs for moving toward a full-scale demonstration. By Danielle Naidu November 03, 2026 Heartland Water Technology, a developer of industrial wastewater treatment systems, said Oct. 29 that the […]

Climate zone 5 house built in 1995. Two rooms overhang the porch area, and both get very cold at the knee walls that face the porch in winter. I just opened up the porch ceiling and, as you can see in the photos, there is a void, then where the rooms begin there is sheathing, […]

I’m not so sure you need a load miser here. Heat pump water heaters don’t draw all that much electricity, certainly no where near what an electric resistance water heater would. You might very well be fine without it, even with 100A service. If you did have an issue, I would probably set the stove […]

Hello, I am installing a metal R-Panel Ceiling in a garage and I am curious on the best vapor retarder and insulation profile for this case. The garage is located in zone 5A and it will be heated to 55-65 in the colder months. It will not be conditioned in the summer. The space has […]

House was built in 1993 in zone 4A. Slab on grade construction. I’ve currently got all of the baseboards removed in preparation to install new flooring and since this is the only time I’ll have the access to the bottom plate area, I was hoping to air seal wherever necessary. What I’ve found, though, is […]

Guest Blogs Two Brooklyn projects, two different teams, and the same systematic approach By Michael Ingui | October 30, 2026 Over the past decade, our approach to Passive House renovations has developed through close collaboration with the people who help us build them. Each project brings different challenges, but the fundamentals stay the same. For […]