Do you live in a cold-snowy arid climate? Do you struggle to keep your plants alive? Would you like to have your own permaculture-based indoor oasis for you and your plants that is warm everyday? It might seem like a fantasy, but this is the scene you can create in a tropical permaculture greenhouse of your very own.

When first getting into the realm of Home Energy Ratings, the lingo can be slightly confusing. HERS, the Home Energy Rating System is based on a home’s energy rating, which is an analysis of a home’s energy performance that includes energy modeling with accredited software. The HERS Rating is based on the HERS Index, the official number that comes from the rating.

Photovoltaics, also known as PV Panels, are used to convert solar energy into direct current electricity. A photovoltaic system employs solar panels composed of a multitude of solar cells to supply usable solar power.

Bungalows are very convenient for the homeowner in that all living areas are on a single-story and there are no stairs between living areas. A bungalow is well suited to persons with impaired mobility, such as the elderly or those in wheelchairs. A bungalow is a type of building, and across the world, the meaning of the word bungalow varies.

The American Craftsman style—also known as the American Arts and Crafts movement—is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied and decorative arts style, and lifestyle philosophy that began in the late years of the 19th century.

No other historic architectural style has as many alternative names as the Tudor Revival does; Elizabethan, Jacobean, Jacobethan, Queen Anne, Old English, and Cotswold are a few. Although there are many names referring to the same style, Tudor Revival has become the most accepted term in the academic community and in general for its immediate association with the structures that are their source of inspiration - the medieval buildings of Tudor England.

In his building-science presentations, John Straube often talks about how skyscrapers co-evolved with revolving doors. This is because of the stack effect: Warm air rising in a tall building creates a pressure difference that makes opening a ground-level swinging door very difficult. The taller the building, the greater the pressure difference and, as a result, the harder it is to open the door. A similar relationship exists with temperature: The greater the temperature difference, the faster the heat flows to the cooler space.

When you make changes to one part of a house, you may create problems elsewhere. Rising energy costs and federal subsidies have encouraged homeowners to swap conventional furnaces for high-efficiency, direct-vent models. Unfortunately, the atmospherically vented water heater is often left behind. These orphaned water heaters are now venting into an oversize flue that was once shared by two appliances. Half of these orphaned heaters won’t have enough draft to get flue gases outside the house.

Hello! My name is Gracie Williams and I just finished my freshman year at Notre Dame. I am so excited to be here at LGA studios for the summer.

Hello! My name is Veronica Feliz and I am a returning intern at LGA Studios this summer. I am from Colorado Springs and am lucky to be able to spend time here as well as get a great experience in an architecture office.

Last week, I was introduced to the best office I could have asked to be a part of - LGA Studios. I am lucky enough to be interning for this wonderful company this summer after completing my first year of school at CU Boulder in the Environmental Design Program with an emphasis in Architecture.