Number of days per year projected to exceed 100 degrees F based on lower-emission scenario (middle) and high-emission scenario (bottom); recent past shown in upper map. Image: U.S. Global Change Research Program. Click on image to enlarge.

Number 9 in my list of the top-10 green building priorities is to create resilient houses that will protect occupants in a changing climate or during extended power outages, loss of heating fuel, or water shortages.

Photo: RecycleTote.com

Over the next ten weeks, I'm going to lay out my top-ten priorities for green building--starting, in Lettermanesque fashion, with #10 and working up to #1. These priorities are directed primarily toward the design and construction profession, but homeowners having a house built or work done on a house need to be part of this discussion too. This shouldn't be thought of as a hard-and-fast priority ranking. Of necessity, I've had to average the various considerations.

Figuring out the structure of concrete at the molecular level will go a long way toward greening this ubiquitous building material. Photo: Michael David Rose Photography.

When I began researching concrete for last month’s EBN feature article "Reducing Environmental Impacts of Cement and Concrete," one of my goals was to figure out how toxins are bound within concrete’s structure.

Hemcrete is poured into forms, tamped, cured, and then both sides stuccoed with lime plaster. Photo: Lime Technology, Ltd. Click on image to enlarge.

Tradical® Hemcrete® is a non-structural, rigid, insulating, composite wall fill comprised (by weight) of about 38% hemp and 62% lime-based binder. The Tradical lime binder is manufactured in the U.K.

I have a new favorite insulation material. Foamglas® building insulation has been made by Pittsburgh Corning for many decades and is widely used in Europe. For the past decade or two, however, it has only been actively marketed in North America for industrial applications. (It's been listed in our GreenSpec Directory as an industrial insulation material for years.)

Now Foamglas is back.

Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, which supplies 90% of Las Vegas's water and millions of other residents, shown at about half capacity in 2007. Ken Dewey photo. Click on image to enlarge.

Last week we examined the amount of energy it takes to transport and treat water--and how we can conserve energy by using less water.

We'd been expecting something like this for a while—it's great to see that it's on the way.

LEED Interpretations will look a lot like the process for Credit Interpretation Rulings (CIRs) that was in place prior to July 2009, according to information given to me by Cara Mae Cirignano, a LEED specialist at USGBC. (As you probably know, LEED project teams use the CIR process to check on whether they can earn a LEED credit in specific circumstances that may not be anticipated by the LEED rating system.)

GraniteCrete was used at Asilomar State Beach for durable, but natural-looking pathways and steps. Photo: GraniteCrete. Click on photo to enlarge.

GraniteCrete is a portland-cement-based aggregate binder used with locally sourced, ground, decomposed granite or other suitable aggregate to produce porous, natural-looking walkways and other low-traffic pavement.

Niagara uses innovative "vacuum-assist" hydraulics to provide an effective, yet super-quiet flush in the Stealth toilet, requiring just 0.8 gallons. By using less water, this toilet saves energy. Photo: Niagara Conservation. Click on image to enlarge

It takes a lot of energy to transport and treat water in this country, and it takes a lot of water to produce the energy we use. To put this a different way: when we save water we save energy, and when we save energy we save water.

There are some significant advantages to urinals when it comes to bathroom maintenance (I won't go into the messy details of splashing that happens when males stand and urinate into a toilet). With ultra-efficient urinals (often called one-pint urinals) and waterless urinals, there are also very significant water savings that are achieved.

Streets in Copenhagen are designed to provide safe access for bicyclists. Photo: Alex Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Last week, I touched on some of the strategies coming out of the "hypermiling" movement to boost automobile fuel economy. Here are a few more: 1. Lighten the load. The more weight we haul around in our cars or trucks, the more energy we use. If you keep sandbags in the bed of your pick-up for winter traction, remove them in the summer.

The Grundfos advanced, variable-speed, "smart" pumps for hydronic heating systems can reduce pumping energy use by 80%. Photo: Grundfos USA. Click on image to enlarge.

For the past couple years, I've been helping All Soul's Church in West Brattleboro, Vermont, save energy.

With careful driving techniques it's possible to significantly exceed the EPA mileage rating for any car. Source: U.S. EPA. Click on image to enlarge.

In this column I usually focus on how to save energy in our homes and businesses, but for many of us, getting around is our largest energy consumer--particularly in the summer months when we're not heating our houses. Some of us are lucky enough to have hybrid cars, and this gives us a head start in saving transportation energy.

This Bensonwood home in Alstead, New Hampshire, combines high-tech panelized construction and superb energy performance with simple elegance. Click on image to enlarge.

I had the good fortune last week to spend a few hours touring the Bensonwood offices and factory in Walpole, New Hampshire. I've known Tedd Benson for perhaps 20 years, and knew of him a lot longer than that through his writings.