Tomorrow's a banner learning day for Vermont's designers, architects and builders. That's because KSV client Efficiency Vermont will host its 12th Better Buildings By Design Conference in Burlington.
The conference includes a number of nationally and internationally-renowned speakers, who will introduce the latest innovations in energy efficiency, from LEDs to passive homes to new models for financing energy efficiency improvements.

It's gratifying that the first Habitat for Humanity home in the town where I live, Charlotte, Vermont, will become the most energy efficient home Habitat has ever built in New England. The design, which exceeds Energy Star standards, will meet still higher standards for green building set by the Passive House Institute.

Today's online edition of Brandweek is carrying a story by Todd Wasserman, "Is Twitter the Next Second Life?" (http://bit.ly/dyxkBZ).
The rise of Twitter has been nothing short of a digital phenomenon and along the way it has spawned both fans and critics. Wasserman takes a look at the numbers and concludes that growth is slowing. He also cites the usual marketing examples of success (Dell and Comcast) and failure, or at least disinterest (Delta didn't post for six months).

There's growing debate about online privacy and one group, the Future of Privacy Forum, is taking matters into its own hands, before the government does.
The group has developed and is advocating that online advertisers include the clever symbol pictured here to tell people why they're being served a particular ad.

Yesterday's Seattle Times re-published a story by Dana Hull that originally appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, "Energy Efficiency to Shine in 2010" (http://bit.ly/9dmxUz).
It's a quick read and well worth your time. The gist: Solar may be sexy but the sheer numbers are in energy efficiency. This reminds me of a recent conversation with the contractor who conducted an energy audit at my home in November. He said that he loves to build new net-zero homes, and he has several to his credit, but the real opportunity for Vermont and the nation is to button up older homes like mine.

It's cold outside here in northern Vermont this time of year (nine degrees and snowing as I write this). But this winter it's a bit warmer, at least here inside the early 20th-century building where some of the the good folks of KSV hang out five days (sometimes more) a week.
That's because we've just completed phase two of a three-phase project to replace all 34 super-size windows in our three-story building. Those are brand new Pella Architect Series double-pane, low-E2-with-Argon-gas windows you see in the accompanying photo.

This is cool!
High-tech start-up Redwood Systems, of Fremont, Calif., is devising new lighting systems using light emitting diodes (LEDs). There's nothing new about LED lighting except that Redwood is claiming to significantly reduce the cost to install its technology in commercial buildings. Unfortunately the energy- and money-efficient among us will have to wait until May for the formal unveiling. In the meantime, learn more from this New York Times Green Inc. blog post by Leora Broydo Vestel (http://bit.ly/7ahbJy).

It's good to see the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) getting tough with LG Electronics and its abuse of the Energy Star label (http://bit.ly/6djbZT). Energy Star is among the most powerful energy efficiency brands in the country. Allowing its name to be associated with energy-guzzling refrigerator-freezers does it no good. Hooray for the the smart marketers at Energy Star for taking a stand.