New Leaf Home Design providing services during Stay at Home
I hope this finds you, your family, and friends well. I’d also like to thank all of those working every day through this crisis to provide the essential services we all need. It is appreciated. As many of us are spending extra time at home right now, you may be spending more time thinking […]
Sustainable Resolutions To Fit Your Home
Wondering what you can do to minimize your carbon footprint at your home? Solar panels are great, but they aren’t a good fit for everyone. If your house is in a shaded area, or your shingles are older but not quite ready for replacement, solar electric may not be practical for your house right now. […]
Raising the Bar for the Quality of Home Construction
Our country could be building better quality homes, but we aren’t. Why not? The number of new homes built has risen steadily in the past 5 years, and continues to do so. Unfortunately, most of these homes will be built to meet the current building code, and not much better. Perhaps the worst news is that […]
Sustainable Homes Network
The Sustainable Homes Network of Northeast Ohio continues to grow. We are up to 173 members in our Meetup.com group! We had a great “Powered by Pecha Kucha” night in February, with presentations by Certified Passive House Consultant Michael Peters, Jennifer Tomasek of Cornerstone Construction speaking about the LEED registered home they are building, Michael […]
Shaker Design Competition
In January of this year I had the honor of participating in a design competition hosted by the City of Shaker Heights. Twelve teams submitted conceptual drawings for infill lots in the Moreland Heights neighborhood. The city was looking for proposals that emphasize energy efficiency with net zero ready or passive design, that fit into traditional […]
A Renewable Energy Future Is Here
Greetings! It’s been quite a while since I wrote, and a lot has happened for our family since then. Last spring my parents moved from their home of 42 years in Athens to be closer to us here in Akron. No matter how well a house is adapted for aging in place, having family close […]
Smart Sustainability – What It Meant For Our House
Smart sustainability isn’t one size fits all. It wouldn’t be smart if it were. Each situation, each house, and each family are different. And each budget. So how do you decide what are the smart sustainable decisions for you? It’s a process. I recently went through this process for our family’s heating and cooling system, and […]
Energy Efficiency & Maintenance
Sustainable Resolutions Fit Your Home Wondering what you can do to minimize your carbon footprint at your home? Solar panels are great, but they aren’t a good fit for everyone. If your house is in a shaded area, or your shingles are older but not quite ready for replacement, solar electric may not be practical […]
Construction & Costs
Who do you call? Where do you start? Your choice of contractor is an important one, and you have a lot of companies to choose from. How do you narrow down the choices and finally make a selection? There are no magic answers, but over the years I’ve come up with some guidelines to share with […]
City Living
Shaker Design Competition In January of this year I had the honor of participating in a design competition hosted by the City of Shaker Heights. Twelve teams submitted conceptual drawings for infill lots in the Moreland Heights neighborhood. The city was looking for proposals that emphasize energy efficiency with net zero ready or passive design, that […]