Another excellent video by Permies.com. This 12′x12′ cabin cost about $3,000. “Matt, from Feral Farm, talks about a tiny house he built. This tiny house has a tiny kitchen space inside, and a much larger outdoor kitchen. Everything at Feral Farm is off grid, including this tiny house.  Read more from > Off Grid Tiny House with two kitchens

“Instead of focusing only on energy efficiency at this year’s Solar Decathlon, the University of Maryland is also tackling water conservancy with their entry, WaterShed. WaterShed was inspired by the ecosystem of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. WaterShed is an example of how natural water resources can be maintained and protected by homes and buildings, and the   Read more from > University of Maryland WaterShed

The following list includes dozens of low tech, low cost ways to cool buildings in hot climates passively without electricity or machinery, i.e., passive cooling or natural cooling. This list is in addition to the 11 or so simple passive cooling techniques that I talked about in my video the other day. Altogether there are   Read more from > Additional Passive Cooling Strategies for Hot Climates

I saw this fridge a few years ago on Build it Solar.com. It’s a great site like I keep saying with hundreds of practical projects. Several years later and now I’m asking the same questions as the author below. Why haven’t more people made the switch to this super energy efficient fridge? “Using vertical doors   Read more from > Energy Efficient Chest Fridge

Installing window quilts is one of the simplest, easiest ways to save on energy costs. It’s right up there with caulking, weather stripping and adding extra roof insulation in terms of rapid payback. Window quilts would probably pay for themselves in just one or two seasons. With something so simple and obvious you’d think more   Read more from > Slash Energy Bills with Window Quilts

Kelly sent me the following article about government and big industry plans for achieving energy efficiency in buildings. One goal is to achieve zero net energy by 2030. While I agree with the need to slash energy consumption and the overall goal of zero energy buildings, I have almost no confidence these type of plans   Read more from > A ‘Moon Shot’ for Building Energy Efficiency