Gregory Duncan

Saw it with my book club. It was great!

Hope to see you there!

The Passive House Network #PassiveHouse 2026 Conference! 🏡💡

📅 June 4-6, 2026
📍 Hotel Marcel, New Haven, CT

Find out more: https://ow.ly/8XZh50XTyoF

Woke up this morning to snow covering my third-floor bedroom window. Ditmas Park, Brooklyn

It snowed in Brooklyn!

Porque no los dos?

Cursed floor plan

1940 Irish language scif-fi book Manannán by Máiréad Ní Ghráda
It is the first Mecha Robot outside of Japan and mention of a Gravity assist in fiction. It was never republished or translated.

Heat pumps aren’t new. Here’s one from 1938

The NYT reports that lawmakers in 24 US states are considering legislation that would legalize #pluginpv!

🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/c...

901.1.1 Referenced standards.Where this code makes reference to the nationally recognized standards NFPA 13, NFPA 13D, NFPA 13R, NFPA 14, NFPA 20, NFPA72, or NFPA 92,such standard shall be as modified for New York City in accordance with Appendix Q of this code

Like a waffle slab but low carbon and renewable

Happy New Sidewalk Shed Rule Month to all who celebrate!

Permits now capped at 90 days with mandatory progress reports for renewal. Effective February 2.

edgnyc.com/blog/what-ny...

PrePoMo church in Bonn

"Poo was never a pollutant. When we defecate, we emit poo. Plants need poo to survive and grow. They thrive with more poo."

Nice progress on plug-in (balcony) solar bills in Vermont and Virginia. Would make it easy for renters and homeowners to install PV.

New York doesn’t have design review, but we do have Landmarks, which provides a similar function

Historic parking lots in NYC? Let's take a tour!

(the NoHo one is unlikely to win here)

Winner, so far: 39-14 215th St in Flushing, built 1892. No alteration noted, and no big changes since 1940.

City Council to Bring Back Year-Round Outdoor Dining After Adams-Era Decimation - Streetsblog New York City New York City's curbside outdoor dining will return to being year-round, Council Speaker Julie Menin announced on Wednesday.

New York City's curbside outdoor dining will return to being year-round, Council Speaker Julie Menin announced on Wednesday.

The fan itself is using 30 W and the preheater rarely kicks in. Since January we’ve saved about 1500 kWh heating. With our heat pump that’s about 500 kWh electricity or $168

Temperature & Humidity Extract Air 20.5 °C / 31% Exhaust Air 2.1 °C / 67% Outdoor Air -9.1 °C / 43% Supply Air 16.0 °C /25% Room Sensors No sensors connected to ComfoNet Bypass State 0% Frost Protection Reduction 0% Pre-heater State 300 W Postheater State Not installed Before Postheater

Cold enough here in New York for the ERV preheater to kick in.

ERV: energy recovery ventilator provides continuous filtered fresh air and exhausts stale air without losing a lot of heat

view looking up at the underside of a stone pencheck stair built of Mississquoi marble, with one end if the treads unsupported and the other sitting on a wall of Tyndall limestone

We’re dismantling a stone pencheck stair right now and so it seems a good time to revisit a short 🧵 on the subject.

How pencheck stairs work (resist torsion), and how they don’t (cantilever):

Map should include Trader Joe’s, which is owned by Aldi Nord

Reminder ahead of this weekend's frigid temperatures...

Landlords in NYC are legally required to provide:

* Heat-- At least 68 degrees during day (6am-10pm) and 62 degrees at night (10pm-6am)

* Hot water-- At least 120 degrees

(1/2)

Photo from a book launch at Waterstones bookshop in Hereford

Three men at the book launch, one holding the book

Great turnout for The Good Building Book launch in Hereford with the authors @ecominimalnick.bsky.social and Jon Broome

Good to catch up with folk, hope the book sells like hot cakes

📣 Call for Presentations: The Passive House Network Conference 2026

Have insights, lessons, or projects to share? Submit your presentation proposal and help advance the conversation on how #PassiveHouse transforms building delivery.

🗓Deadline: FEB 13
🔗Learn more & submit: https://ow.ly/E5QS50Y1fQx

Hopkins designs Europe’s largest Passivhaus university building for Oxford

Hopkins designs Europe’s largest Passivhaus university building for Oxford

And you could drive somewhere to recharge after a few days, extending this period indefinitely

This car battery could power 100% of the heat pump needed in a home built to the Passive House standard for about ten days in the middle of winter.

So many reasons to NOT build housing with shipping containers