The future of urban housing is energy-efficient refrigerators

The stereotype of Silicon Valley arrogance was shown by Katerra's vision of reform the construction world, using billions of dollars in investment to build an entirely new production system from the ground up. European models seek to retrofit using a simple, straightforward, and standard set of parts.

According to the founder of Century Homes, an Irish pioneer of off-site construction, the company overlooked innovation overseas. While American construction favored wood-frame building on-site with readily available raw materials, more space and material constrained builders in Asia and Europe have mastered the art of modular construction. Katerra focused on specific sectors at a time and ignored the others. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it brought every facet of the complex construction process in-house and built too many different models at once and caused huge cost overruns.

McCaughey said that it was not what he knew or didn't know that caught him. There were things they were sure you needed to do, but they weren't. It isn't a one- trick pony. Before you can walk, you have to crawl. The least experienced person in the company was more knowledgeable about off-site construction.

Her name is Mercado Miotke.

The Energiesprong model, which has retrofitted thousands of homes in the Netherlands and across Europe, relies on Stroomversnelling, a network of contractors, housing associations, parts suppliers, and even financiers working in close contact. The system can redo a building in a few days. Dutch firm Factory Zero makes prebuilt modules for roofs that feature electric boilers, heat pumps, and solar hookups. The greening of an old building is almost done.

It is part of a larger European model that starts with an ambitious emissions policy and supports it with incentives and funding for retrofits and new buildings, in effect subsidizing novel building methods and creating a market for innovative windows, doors, andHVAC systems. Government willingness to fund such improvements for subsidized and public housing has been a key component of its success. The passivhaus standard, an ultra-efficient level of insulation that reduces the energy needed for heating and cooling, is one of the major advantages in Europe. It's easier to support more experiments due to the smaller and more standardized housing system. A single building model, a handful of contractors, and a relatively small pool of players make up energiesprong.

In a single US city it would be much harder to coordinate. Instead of concentrating venture capital on a few hypergrowth startups, it is an approach that spreads risk among different ideas. He says that the US ends up being like a sniper rifle. It affects the entire construction industry.

There is an emerging model in Canada. The Ken Soble Tower, a waterfront high-rise for seniors that was built in 1967, was recently renovated using national housing funds. The building was brought to the passivhaus standard, with a 94% reduction in energy usage thanks to extreme efficiency, thanks to the panelized exterior and new high-efficiency windows. There was no aesthetic price to pay for the bay windows.

According to the leader of the project, the project gave business to Canadian firms manufacturing high-tech windows and cladding, suggesting that such work could helpseed a domestic industry for more green building projects. The creation of the Tower Renewal Partnership was spearheaded by him. Sean Botham, CityHousing Hamilton's development manager, says that even with all the benefits they're seeing for the tower residents, the agency isn't.