The Wind at Our Back Gusts from 73.6GW in 2006 to 280.6GW in 2012

According to a new report, Wind Power – Global Market Size, Turbine Market Share, Installation Prices, Regulations and Investment Analysis to 2020, by research firm GlobalData, installed capacity increased at a compound annual growth rate of 25%. This translates into to a jump from 73.6GW in 2006 to 280.6GW in 2012. There was a 7%, … Read more

The Pitch of a Solar Roof

The angle or pitch of your roof actually has less impact on solar panel performance than the direction it faces. In general, optimal production occurs when solar panels face south at a tilt equal to 30°. But what happens if your roof is flat? Lowering the tilt all the way down to 5° only decreases … Read more

Living Large in Small Spaces

TreeHugger Founder, Graham Hill, Lives In A Mind-Blowing 420-Square Feet ‘Tiny Home.’ His home is a prototype of spaces from LifeEdited, Inc., a company dedicated to showing people how living in small spaces can actually be a good thing. In the video, we see Graham uses just 420 square feet of space to sleep, host … Read more

Renzo Piano’s Dream of a Tiny House

The aluminum-clad wood house is 8.2 feet wide by 9.8 feet long by 11.5 feet high. It features two rainwater tanks attached to a boiler, a composting toilet, triple-glazed windows and insulated walls that can withstand temperatures from minus 10 degrees to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Electricity comes from three rechargeable batteries that plug into an … Read more

Building with Bioreactor Facade

An experimental apartment building in Hamburg, Germany is harnessing the power of the sun to generate power, but not in the way you expect. Photovoltaic cells are totally yesterdays news — the BIQ building gathers power using a bioreactor façade packed full of microalgae. Large clear panels on the front of the building are where … Read more

The Politics of Tiny Houses

As much as he enjoys talking about design, what Jay Scaafer really wanted to talk about in this interview was the politics of tiny houses. Why building and zoning codes are stacked against tiny houses, how the costs of purchase and upkeep compare to the big houses he calls “debtors’ prisons”, and why, when the … Read more

Little House on the Trailer

Dee Williams decided to downsize from a 1,500 square foot home to a 84 square foot home after a trip to Guatemala. She built her current home, “The Little House,” herself for about $10,000. With a propane tank for heat and electricity coming from solar panels, Williams cost of living runs extremely low. Consider the … Read more