Amy Musser Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Green Built Alliance

Why you should be using an induction cooktop

Amy Musser

Induction cooktops are new. I get a lot of questions about them, and at this point not enough designers, contractors, and homeowners are specifying them. In my opinion, they’re the best choice for just about everyone. In this week’s blog, I’d like to present my reasoning. What makes induction cooktops...

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Introducing…. Greenbuilt NC net-zero and net-zero ready homes!

Amy Musser

Three new net-zero energy homes are being certified in Asheville this week, and you can tour them all this weekend and next during the Parade of Homes! If you're a member of the WNC green building council, you got an email today introducing the latest overhaul of the Greenbuilt NC...

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Buffer spaces are (almost always) evil

Amy Musser

I encounter a lot of “semi-conditioned” spaces in my work. Homeowners inexplicably seem to love them, and builders and architects don’t do enough to talk them out of it. Please, just say NO to the buffer space. What I’m trying to help people do in green building is actually quite...

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Finally! A decent alternative to hot water recirculating loops

Amy Musser

I’ve never been a fan of hot water recirculating loops. I feel like they've been oversold as a “green feature” and a few particularly bad ones have resulted in really frustrating energy complaints for my clients. Although they do provide some water savings, they’re more of a convenience feature and...

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Time to call your state legislators

Amy Musser

There is a lot going on this year in the NC legislature that will impact the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and green building industries, and much of it is not good. If you hate politics as much as I do, you may not be fully on top of all this,...

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Refrigerators have become confusing

Amy Musser

Recently, I've gotten a lot of emails and calls from my builder clients about refrigerators. It seems their energy consumption has gotten confusing, particularly if you're trying to buy an energy star model. There are two reasons for this: (1) the standard test for how much energy they use has...

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Big kitchen range hoods: the rules have changed in NC, but they’re still a terrible idea.

Amy Musser

Big kitchen range hoods cause a lot of problems for builders trying to get certificates of occupancy, for homeowners with appliances that might backdraft, and for me trying to energy-rate and size mechanical systems for homes. Even though they should, they’re not going away anytime soon. The rules for them...

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Why do I have window condensation in my new house?

Amy Musser

I want to celebrate the unusually cold weather we’re having in WNC by posting about a problem that comes up quite a bit this time of year: interior window condensation. It’s one of the few problems that I can usually diagnose over the phone. In this blog, I’m going to...

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Proper care and feeding of a residential construction project – Part 2 Working with your contractor

Amy Musser

You've hired a contractor to build your dream home, hopefully using my advice from a previous blog. How do you make that relationship work for you? Trust them. They know the building code and they will have subs and materials that they feel comfortable using. I won’t say that you...

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Proper care and feeding of a residential construction project – Part 1 Choosing a contractor

Amy Musser

So you’re planning to build your dream home and you’re going to work with a contractor. That’s great. Building is complicated and I think almost everyone would benefit from having an experienced person manage the process for them. My involvement on a lot of residential projects gives me a window...

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