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Reduce Your Utility Bills with European Net-Zero Housing

“The Race to Zero” is the title of the Door County Environmental Council’s (DCEC) next special program. Virge Temme, AIA architect, is featured speaker for the event that will be held Wednesday, July 15, 7 pm, at Crossroads at Big Creek, Sturgeon Bay.

Temme will compare and contrast Net-Zero building standards and practices currently being used in Europe and the U.S. and how Europe leads the U.S. in this field. Net-zero is the term used to denote building practices and standards that result in minimal dependency on the utility grids and zero emissions of climate-changing pollutants during the construction and operation of new buildings.

An example might be several houses, built in a cluster, sharing a large solar electric system to power their homes. Techniques used in building and retrofitting these homes would also be designed to generate zero carbon-based pollution.

“Europe is several years ahead of the US when it comes to implementing these techniques and practices,” stated Temme. “They are available here, but they’re just not being used widely, yet. We need to close that gap.”

Temme will present ways that current homeowners and small businesses can upgrade existing buildings to make them more earth-friendly. She will also provide advice to those wishing to build net-zero buildings from scratch.

Temme’s program, anticipated to run about an hour with questions and answers following, will cover these topics in detail.

Crossroads at Big Creek is located at 2041 Michigan Street, just east of Hwy 42-57, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Admission is free and all are welcome.

This program is the third for DCEC’s summer series. August 19 will mark DCEC’s traditional Annual Summer Program at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall.

For further information about DCEC and their summer series of events visit http://www.dcec-wi.org or call Jerry Viste, executive director, at 920.743.6003.