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Pretty Good House provides a framework and set of guidelines for building or renovating a high-performance home that focus on its inhabitants and the environment--but keeps in mind that few people have pockets deep enough to achieve a "perfect" solution. The essential idea is for homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints both to meet their own needs and do as much for the planet as possible. A Pretty Good House is: * A house that's as small as possible * Simple and durable, but also well designed * Insulated and air-sealed * Above all, it is affordable, healthy, responsible, and resilient.

One of our most important objectives as hu have provided basic principles from scientific mans is to discover and pass on ways of living journals and books and summarized the expe with our environment. Every form of life, in riences of people actually living in earth shel cluding human, depends on nature's ability to ters. produce clean air, pure water and fertile soil In the growth and development of any field and to recycle wastes. It is our duty to live in a of knowledge, there comes a time when theory manner that enhances and preserves these nat requires testing, when concepts need to be re ural processes. Earth sheltering-the use of fined in the light of experience. Such is the case earth cover to moderate and improve living with earth sheltering. A good foundation of conditions in buildings-is an old but recently principles has been laid, mostly through the ex rediscovered technique. It holds much promise cellent efforts of such organizations as the Un for allowing us to use less energy and preserve derground Space Center of the University of more space for natural and human needs. It also Minnesota, the School of Architecture at Okla gives the individual and society alike a real way homa State University, and the many design to achieve self-reliance and independence from professionals active in earth sheltering. These limited sources of fossil fuels.

This book is the fourth of four dealing with bioclimatic design and construction by focusing on the most basic and polyvalent of modern environmental systems: the bioclimatic greenhouse, the "Swiss-army chainsaw" of architecture. More specifically, this fourth volume focuses on architectural integration, environmental prediction and how to simulate and structurally size a bioclimatic wooden greenhouse. In more general terms, it helps us to consider how to design and build the structure of bioclimatic, low-energy architecture, with low environmental impact. This multi-volume book covers both free-standing greenhouses that can naturally heat and cool themselves, and lean-to greenhouses that support the natural heating and cooling of buildings; this includes both agricultural greenhouses and greenhouses suited to host people. As a result, it is a trans-disciplinary work deriving its areas of concern from a broad range of study areas, spanning from environmental, to constructional, to structural, drawing the clarity of the approach from the fact that the topics are presented by a single author with a single voice and a designer's mindset. To achieve this, the book adopts a composite set of explanatory strategies and communication registers – including extensive support by 3D construction drawings and examples – and presents not only stateof-the-art solutions, but also experimental ones.

This book, written by two authoritative figures in the area of energy technology, is the first to thoroughly describe in simple, clear language the technology known as superinsulation. Appropriate for anyone involved in residential construction and for students of engineering technology, it provides a conceptual understanding of the superinsulated house as well as details for assembling the construction elements of such a system. Includes over 250 photos and architectural drawings.