Posts Tagged ‘house’

In September we introduced a project in Southhampton (Long Island), New York under which is being built a completely carbon-neutral home from the ruins of devastating residential fire. As background, the home of David Dubin and his family was hit by a major fire on December 22 of last year. The fire ruined the center of the house but left the shell. The original house was a relatively new shingled, center entrance colonial that looked like hundreds of thousands of houses in the region. The new house, while it will be built from the remains, will have an 800 foot addition (an 4000 sq. ft total) and will resemble the Canadian "lodge houses" Mrs. Dubin recalls from her childhood in that country. The house, at least from viewing the architectural drawings, is quite spectacular. The designers...(read more)

If you live in a four-season climate you have probably heard that a dark roof will cut winter energy costs. It ain’t necessarily so. The oft-stated theory is that the dark roofs will absorb heat from the suns rays, heating the house and cutting down on the amount of gas, oil, or electricity needed to heat it in the winter months. With the new push for white roofs – Department of Energy Secretary and Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Chou is a big proponent – it is time to look at this widely held belief and the harm it may actually be causing. There are a number of reasons that dark roofing materials are not as energy efficient as advertised. First, hot air always rises. Thus, whatever heat is transmitted into the attic or into living areas from a dark roof will stay very...(read more)