Homes for a Small Planet with Ann Edminster
This 8 hour workshop will equip building professionals and homeowners alike with a toolkit for creating homes that use no more energy than they produce. This means homes that are free from the vagaries of energy-price fluctuations and that help to free society of the high political and environmental costs of fossil fuels.
You will be provided step-by-step guidance on how to make decisions that will yield an energy-free residential project, whether a single-family home or multifamily building, new or existing, in an urban or a rural setting. The unique needs and opportunities of each context will be discussed.
About Ann Edminster
Ann Edminster, M.Arch., is a recognized national expert on green home design and construction. Ann is also a green building consultant and educator whose work focuses on investigation and evaluation of building materials and systems. Her background includes more than two decades of work as a residential designer and nearly 20 years dedicated to green building. She consults with builders, owners, developers, supply chain clients, design firms, investors, and public agencies and serves as an advisor to several private companies.
Ann is one of the principal authors of the LEED® for Homes Rating System; co-author of Efficient Wood Use In Residential Construction: A Practical Guide to Saving Wood, Money, and Forests; author of numerous technical papers and articles; and has been an invited speaker at dozens of regional, national, and international green building conferences. She has designed more than 100 home remodels, and her own home remodel won a green building award in January 2007.
With this course, every participant will receive an autographed copy of Ann's most recent book 'Energy Free, Homes for a Small Planet'.
Principal Topics Included in the Course
The principal topics include::
- Project boundaries (why you have to consider not only your home's behavior, but also your own)
- Prioritizing strategies (e.g., insulation vs. photovoltaics)
- Economics (including payback periods and incentives)
- How to minimize a building's energy needs
- How to minimize your energy needs
- How to power the energy needs that remain
- The critical role of integrated project planning