Party Walls

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Written by Carmel Pratt, Sustainability Consultant

If you live in Connecticut and are as obsessed with energy-related news as we are, you’ve probably already heard about the proposed cuts (to the tune of ~$22 million) from the state’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) clean energy program. RGGI is a nine-state agreement between CT, DL, ME, MD, MA, NH, NY, RI, & VT to cap and reduce power sector CO₂ emissions. In other words, the program is designed to be a set of guidelines for regulating, budgeting, and trading emissions from electric power plants in the cooperating states. This initiative is the first of its kind in the nation, being a mandatory (as set forth by each state’s program design) and market-based emissions reduction program. The nine states are currently in the process of gathering input from stakeholders and experts for the 2016 program review. (more…)

Earlier this week, we posted a video about the CT Zero Energy Challenge’s first-place winner, the Benker/Wegner Residence. Today we bring you the story of the third-place winner in this year’s challenge, the Taft School’s Residence. Aside from housing faculty members, the home is serving as a teaching aid for Taft students to study the design details of a high-performance home, and to understand the experience of living in one.

After installation of a 13kW photovoltaic (PV) system, the home achieved a HERS Index of -14! The SWA team is providing certification support for a slew of exciting green building programs including the stringent Passive House US™ Certification, LEED for Homes, Living Building Challenge™, and ENERGY STAR v3.1.

Check out the video featuring the project team members: Architect, Elizabeth DiSalvo from Trillium Architects; Builder, Chris Trolle from BPC Green Builders; and SWA’s Maureen Mahle.

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