Lenny Antonelli is deputy editor of Passive House Plus. He also writes regularly for the Irish Times, and has contributed to a variety of other publications including the Sunday Times, the CS Monitor, Village, the Sunday Tribune amd the Dubliner. He is currently working on a radio documentary on Ireland's oceans.
Log House Renovation
A log bungalow in rural Meath has been extended and given a total energy upgrade – and wood is at the heart of the renovation, with a timber frame extension and external insulation system along with a fresh log finish.
Words: Lenny Antonelli
Social Capital
Local authorities upgraded hundreds of houses last year under a €20m government scheme, and the Department of Environment has doubled funding for 2010. With local energy agencies playing a key role on the ground, the programme offers vital lessons for keeping quality high in energy retrofit schemes. Words: Lenny Antonelli
Ireland's most airtight house?
An experienced timber framer with an eye for detail, Tim O'Donovan set about building a low energy stick-built home in the Cork countryside and achieved a staggering level of airtightness.
Words: Lenny Antonelli
Consumer retrofit study, timber high rise & geothermal electricity
A quick round up of interesting stories you or may not have seen:
According to SEAI, the organisation is approving 1,000 Home Energy Saving scheme grants a week, at an average of €2,900. Press release and full report (down the bottom) are here.
Permission sought for Ireland's first geothermal energy electricity generation facility. But Richard Tol is skeptical.
Work on Dublin's Metro North to begin in April
Profile of a nine story timber-frame apartment building, including a time-lapse video showing its construction. Construct Ireland previously profiled Ireland's largest timber-frame building, the Navan Credit Union.
Beetlecrete: making use of timber that's been infested by the pine beetle.
Article and audio report on an office built out of shipping containers, which seem to be growing in popularity in the US. How long before an Irish building uses one?
Is green building causing a "real estate revolution" in the US?
Britain is banning inefficient boilers
The New York Times has an in depth feature on passive houses
The Infrastructurist asks why we (or more specifically the US, in this case) are still so afraid of nuclear power?
Some cool aerial photos of urban sprawl in the US (they're after the first few aerial photos of prisons)
The world's biggest offshore windfarm has been activated in the North Sea
1,000 home energy upgrade grants awarded each week
More than a thousand applications for Home Energy Savings (HES) scheme grants are being approved every week and 98.5% percent of recipients say they would recommend the scheme to others, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The survey also revealed that over 68,000 grants have been awarded since the scheme began in April 2009.
Green building seminars, Ireland's land banks & more
The Nottingham House
In May we profiled the Nottingham House, an entry into Solar Decathlon Europe designed by a team from the University of Nottingham that featured an insulation system from Isover Ireland. The Solar Decathlon challenges university teams to design and build homes that maximise the sun's energy. This was the first year of the European competition - the US version is well established.
Anyway, here's a video from the University of Nottingham documenting the build process.
[video:tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP6vQnATckk]
Getting the most from your heat pump, healthy buildings & first US passive retrofit
Hi everyone, the new issue of CI has gone to print and should be out by early next week. Having just caught up on what's been happening in the green building and energy world for the first time in a few weeks, here's some stories that caught my eye.
How to get the most from your heat pump: Treehugger
Fascinating profile of Honk Kong's rooftop villages: Sustainable Cities Collective
Top ten green building prioties: No 10, make it easy: Green Building Advisor
Green buildings may boost occupants' health and productivity: Green Building Advisor
The US's first certified passive house retrofit: Green Building Advisor (more here
San Francisco unveils striking-solar powered stadium: Inhabitat
Report questions whether rainwater and greywater harvesting are really green: Energy Saving Trust
Should building regulations be less impenetrable and more consumer-friendly? Energy saving Trust
Paris to heat buildings using metro: Guardian
Profile of Britain's first recycled theatre: Guardian
Plan to energy upgrade one million buildings launched
One million residential, public and commercial buildings in Ireland will get energy upgrades by 2020 under the latest national retrofit strategy. A consultation was launched this morning on the plan, which will aim to deliver 8,000 GWh of energy savings between 2011 and 2020.