Healthy social housing has to provide winter warmth, summer safety and clean indoor air, while retrofit sequencing determines how quickly residents receive those benefits.
“Fabric first” starts from a sensible building-efficiency idea. Improve insulation, stop unnecessary draughts, fix ventilation and reduce heat demand before replacing a gas or oil boiler with a heat pump. Some homes plainly need that work, and cheap measures such as loft insulation, draught repair and basic remediation can be … [continued]
Ireland’s National Heat Study distinguished useful fabric improvements from extensive renovation and found that deep retrofit should not automatically delay replacement of fossil heating.
For several years I have been arguing that “fabric first” becomes a trap when a sensible building-efficiency principle is turned into a universal sequencing rule. Insulation, draught-proofing, ventilation and building repair can all be valuable, sometimes very valuable, but that does not establish that every household should complete extensive renovation … [continued]
ChatGPT generated image of a fabric first home still pumping fumes beside an electrification first home
In climate and energy policy, certain well-intentioned ideas gain outsized popularity despite persistent evidence against them. One such appealing but deeply problematic approach is the “fabric first” philosophy — the notion that building decarbonization must begin by aggressively insulating and sealing structures, only later electrifying their heating systems. On the … [continued]
From covering windows and planting trees, to upgrading your air conditioning system—PNNL scientists offer tips to keep your home cool in extreme heat.
The White House and Department of Energy (DOE) recently laid the foundation for two monumental home energy upgrade initiatives: the Home Efficiency Rebates program, which offers up to $8,000 to households, and the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program, which provides up to $14,000. These rebate programs — made possible … [continued]
Cork Is A Wonderful Material Cork has uses ranging from place mats to flooring and has been harvested sustainably since Roman times. Because cork bark can be harvested every 9 years from long-lived cork oak trees, Europe has cork forests which support wildlife species found nowhere else. Insulation is increasingly … [continued]
Ever since the first homes were built, people have been trying to find insulation materials that would keep them warm in winter and cool in summer. Just about everything has been tried — seaweed, sod, asbestos, tar paper, rolled up newspapers, urea foam, and pink fiberglass batting from Owens Corning. … [continued]
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been selected to receive over $5.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for the development of technologies that can transform buildings into carbon storage structures. The funding is part of ARPA-E’s Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from … [continued]
By Anne Kramer Sustainability is my passion. I work in corporate sustainability and try to live as sustainably as possible. Until a year ago, this largely meant recycling, minimizing waste, and using reusable bags. Yet, my eyes were recently opened by the nonprofit Electrify Now to the biggest culprit of … [continued]
Originally published on WRI’s Resource Institute Blog. By Dan Lashof, Devashree Saha, Karl Hausker, Greg Carlock, Kevin Kennedy, and Tyler Clevenger U.S. Representative Frank Pallone, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, together with subcommittee chairs Bobby Rush and Paul Tonko, introduced the CLEAN Future Act on March 2, 2021. While numerous climate bills are introduced … [continued]
