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Top 5 Ways to Sell Innovation

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You built a better home—energy efficient, environmentally friendly, durable, disaster resistant—all for competitive price. Now how do you sell it?

Of course, even a product with all of these virtues doesn’t sell itself. It may well take just as much creativity, enthusiasm, and effort to sell a high-performance house as it would to sell ice to Alaskans, but the efforts will pay off for your reputation and long-term success.

Revised Builder's Guide to Frost Protected Shallow Foundations

File Under: Resilience, Structural Performance

A frost protected shallow foundation (FPSF) is a practical alternative to a deeper, more-costly foundation in cold regions with seasonal ground freezing and the potential for frost heave. The International Residential Code® (IRC) includes prescriptive methods for constructing frost protected shallow foundations in heated buildings. By the IRC reference to ASCE 32-01 (American Society of Civil Engineers, Design and Construction of Frost-Protected Shallow Foundations, 2001), FPSFs in semi-heated and unheated buildings that meet the requirements of the IRC may also be designed and constructed.

SEER 2003 Case Study Report

File Under: Energy Efficiency & High-Performance Building, Sustainability

The goal of the Strategies for Energy Efficiency in Remodeling (SEER) project is to provide information, based on research and case studies, to remodelers and consumers about opportunities to increase home energy performance. Opportunities to include energy efficiency often arise while undertaking general remodeling work. Of course, energy efficiency may always be pursued as a remodeling project unto itself to improve the comfort of the home and reduce monthly utility bills. A case study in the mid-Atlantic region was undertaken to develop and test the application of energy efficiency (EE) strategies, to evaluate the benefits, and to identify any weaknesses in their design or application. Taken together as a system, the strategies provide opportunities for energy and cost savings, increased durability, and increased comfort of the remodeled home.