An engineer from Fairbanks, Alaska, has built a house that is "kept toasty without fossil fuels and uses a mere fraction of the energy typically needed, even at 30 below."
Laurel Andrews reports on the work of Bruno and Judith Grunau to build a super energy-efficient home in Fairbanks, Alaska. According to Anderws, "Grunau is a research and testing engineer with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, an organization which focuses on developing sustainable energy technology in sub-Arctic and Arctic climates. Judith Grunau is an architect."
"The home is considered 'net-zero ready," according to Andrews. "That means if the couple were to add solar panels to offset the monthly electric costs, they would be completely off the energy grid."
And for a bit of a perspective for those of us living in the Lower 48 about the conditions such a house would encounter in its lifetime of super efficiency: "Grunau makes one concession: Elevated from the valley’s temperature inversion, the house has never been hit with Fairbanks’ infamous minus-40-degree cold snaps. 'To be fair, I’m cheating a little bit,' Grunau said. The coldest temperature the house has faced is 30 below."
Read the full story: Fairbanks engineer focused on energy efficiency brings his work home
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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