Energy Efficient Home

Energy Efficient LEED Home
A Comfortable and Energy Efficient Home through Science – Part 1 I am a big believer in using principles of science and an understanding of the sun’s movement through the sky to enhance your comfort while also making it a more energy efficient home. I am going to devote the next few blogs to giving
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Asthma and Buildings

Asthma and Buildings
Asthma and Buildings – California and US Trends in Asthma Buildings are too often neglected in the asthma equation. Asthma is sometimes defined as a symptom of poor indoor air quality, and other times defined as a Building Related Illness. This blog references the recently released report, “Asthma in California: A Surveillance Report,” compiled by
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Green Point or LEED?

Green Point or LEED
Green Point or LEED? For homeowners trying to make sense of the many green building rating systems out there, it can be confusing and frustrating–Green Point or LEED? This blog is an attempt to shed some light on the issue. Here in California we are fortunate to have the “GreenPoint Rated” (GPR) system published and overseen
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Healthy San Francisco Earth Day!

Healthy Building San Francisco
Healthy San Francisco Earth Day! We had a lovely, healthy San Francisco (420) day – April 20th!  Our Healthy Building San Francisco Earth Day booth was in the center of Civic Center Plaza with a great view of happy, healthy people AND San Francisco City Hall! See a few Thermal Portraits below… Healthy San Francisco
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Healthy Building Materials and Appliances

RoHS Compliant Healthy Appliances
This blog expands on an earlier post about the 25 Principles of Building Biology and the Healthy Home Standard Checklist. Here we’ll dive deeper into the Indoor Air Quality Checklist, and focus on best practices for healthy appliances and building materials. This is part 3 of 3 – IAQ Checklist. Here is what Building Biologists thought were the
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PVC Dangers and Healthy Alternatives

Vinyl House
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is one of the pervasive and toxic materials used in the building industry. It is the third-most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC production is the largest use of chlorine gas in the world. PVC consumes about 40 percent of total chlorine production, or approximately 16 million tons of chlorine
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EMF Best Practices

Demand Switch - Low EMF Best Practice
This is part of the series on the Healthy Home Standard, and this second part about EMR is a follow up from an earlier post (EMF Rules of Thumb). EMF best practices covers low frequency electric and magnetic fields, as well as Radio Frequency (RF) radiation. EMF best practices are intended to reduce exposure to Electromagnetic Fields
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EMF from LED Lights – Magnetic Fields and Recessed LED Lights

Lutron Dimmer 2
EMF from LED Lights and Recessed LED lights Is there significant amounts of EMF from LED Lights? A designer client of mine had a job she was working on, where her client, a homeowner, was concerned about the magnetic fields in her home.  She was designing a remodel, which included the kitchen, and the designer had
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HVAC and Filtration Best Practices for Healthy Home

HVAC and filtration best practices
HVAC and Filtration Best Practices for Healthy Home This blog expands on an earlier post about the 25 Principles of Building Biology and the Healthy Home Standard Checklist. Here we’ll dive deeper into the Indoor Air Quality Checklist, and focus on best practices for Heating, Cooling and Ventilating a healthy building. “HVAC and Filtration Best Practices for Healthy
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EMF Rules of Thumb

EMF Rules of Thumb
Curious about general best practices for minimizing EMF exposure? This post is an excerpt from the Healthy Home Standard, and it includes many great EMF rules of thumb. This is part of a series about the Healthy Home Standard, and there will be another post on additional EMF best practices. The following EMF rules of
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