Guidance for building and managing houses in sites vulnerable to wildfire
Fundamentals of Resilient Design: Backup Power for Homes
Living in a solar-powered, net-zero-energy house doesn’t solve the problem of being without power when the grid goes down—which can happen for any number of reasons.
By Alex Wilson
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Fundamentals of Resilient Design: Dry Floodproofing
While implementing various measures to keep floodwater out of a building may seem like a no-brainer, there are actually some very significant limitations and risks.
Fundamentals of Resilient Design: Wet Floodproofing
Letting floodwaters into a building is an important resilience measure, but it has to be done in a way that prevents damage.
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #10: Local and Regional Food Systems
In this final installment of my ten-part series on the fundamentals of resilient design, I’m taking a look at where our food comes from and how we can achieve more resilient food systems. The average salad in the U.S. is transported roughly 1,400 miles from farm to table, and here
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #9: Building Strong Communities
In this ninth installment of my ten-part series on resilient design fundamentals, I’m focusing beyond individual buildings to the community scale. Following a natural disaster or other problem that results in widespread power outages or interruptions in vehicle access or fuel supplies, people need to work together. We saw that
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #8: Water in a Drought-Prone Era
Periodic drought is something that a significant portion of the U.S. will have to get used to in the coming decades. Climate scientists tell us that while precipitation will increase overall with climate change, certain regions, including the American West, will see increased frequency of drought. I certainly saw that
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #7: Renewable Energy Systems for Emergency Use
House location and design are the starting points in achieving resilience—with such considerations as where the house located, how well it can weather storms and flooding, and how effectively it retains heat and utilizes passive solar for heating and daylighting. Beyond that, we should look to renewable energy systems for
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #6: Natural Cooling
A blog on cooling? In September? What gives? In my recent series of blogs, I’ve been laying out some of the basics of resilient design—which will become all the more important in this age of climate change. Achieving resilience in homes not only involves keeping them comfortable in the winter
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #5: Passive Solar Heating
When combined with a highly insulated building envelope, passive solar is the best way to ensure that a home will maintain livable conditions in the event of loss of power or heating fuel. As I discussed in my previous blog, a resilient home is extremely well-insulated, so that it can
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #4: Dramatically Better Building Envelopes
When most people think about resilience—resilience during a storm, for example—they think only about resilience during the event. How effectively will the building withstand strong winds or flooding? Equally important, if not more important, is resilience in the aftermath of that event. Hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards, wildfires, tornadoes, and other
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #3: Creating Smarter Buildings and Communities
As we look to create homes and communities that will keep us comfortable and safe in a world of climate change, terrorism, and other vulnerabilities, there are a handful of strategies that I group loosely under the heading of “smarter design.” Some of these strategies come into play more at
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #2: Designing Homes for More Intense Storms
Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in Brandon, Vermont on September 12, 2011. Photo: Angela Drexel – Creative Commons license Anybody who was in Vermont one year ago this week and witnessed the raging floodwaters of Hurricane Irene and the havoc they wreaked, understands the vulnerabilities we face from intense
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #1: Making the Case
I thought a lot about resilience last year, during a six-week sabbatical bike ride through the Southwest. I covered a little over 1,900 miles, most of it over land that hadn’t seen a drop of rain since the previous fall; some of those areas—mostly in Texas—still hadn’t received significant precipitation months after my return home.
