The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com

The Energy Challenge - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Innovative ‘Passive Houses’ - Series - NYTimes.com: "DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace."

Helge: Is this the new trend in building technique and design?

Building Materials and the Housing Downturn

If you're a builder, about to sink millions into a new development, what's the first thing you do? You make sure you can get a permit to start developing the land. That's why experts consider the rate of housing permit applications such a good hidden indicator of the future economy.

Helge: This starting point comes from US.

When it's going up, the economy will likely go up. Because the property industry drives a huge chunk of the job market. But also because when applications are soaring, it means that a boom is exactly what builders -- who live and breath by predicting the future economy -- are betting on.

Helge: We've been experiencing the same. When building goes down, so does the job market.

What does it say when building permit applications start to plummet?

It means builders see plunging home sales, a tight economy, and even a recession on the horizon. Pay attention. Because this is exactly the signal I'm showing you in the chart above. Early last year, the total new number of housing permit applications fell off a cliff.

Helge: We have to face this now.

Inhabitat Great Design

Helge: Great design!

cervus @digitalvillages but but but it's pre-fab friday over at http://inhabitat.com/ — i wanna live large with a tiny footprint. deal? :)



October 19, 2007

SOLAR DECATHLON 2007: Technische Universität Darmstadt

by Jill and Emily

Inhabitat: "Combining the manufacturing expertise of Volkswagen with a stunningly modern design sensibility, the Technische Universität Darmstadt’s wowed the crowds this week at the 2007 Solar Decathlon with their gorgeously innovative Solar Decathlon home.

The Darmstadt home combines both high-tech active solar and low-tech passive solar components into smart operable building envelope of movable photovoltaic shutters.

This clever solar shutter system bears more than a passing resemblance to old school German wooden shutters — only writ large, spanning every exterior surface of house and covered with photovolaic panels that generate electricity while they are simultaneously shading the house from the sun."