Around the Web: Energy Circle's Hand-Picked Links, Chosen Especially for Energy Efficiency Pros.

LEED’s Fatal Flaw.

The most recognized green building standard in the country, maybe in the world, fails to protect human health through air quality and other safety measures. We should take note. (From Demand Side Solutions)

Colorado Family Killed by Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

Relatives of the family have filed a civil suit against 12 parties, including the owner of the building and the manufacturer of the boiler that released the carbon monoxide, in an effort to determine what caused the deaths and how a similar case can be avoided in the future. The tragedy highlights the need for standardized air quality testing. (From Aspen Daily News)

6 Reasons Energy Efficiency is Having Trouble Catching On.

Chris Williams at the Green Light Distrikt discusses the most cited reasons that energy efficiency is not being adopted on large enough a scale, according to speakers at the recent “Energy Efficiency: Why is the Low Hanging Fruit So High?” conference in Boston. (From Green Light Distrikt)

Trying to Build Green in a Historic District.

Carl Seville (The Green Building Curmudgeon), one of the nation’s leading green building consultants, on his epic quest to build a green home, a mission continuously held up by bureaucratic red tape and outdated regulations. (From Green Building Advisor)

England’s House-Within-a-House Experiment.

The University of Salford, near Manchester, will soon be the site of the first house-within-a-house, an experimental structure designed to test the performance of a home outside the context of uncontrollable weather and climate conditions. (From Greenbang)

Know Your Terms: Heat Pump Efficiency Ratings SEER & HSPF.

If you’re toying with the idea of a heat pump, you’ll want to have a firm understanding of industry terminology before making any investments. Energy Vanguard explains the two most important efficiency ratings: SEER and HSPF, which apply to cooling and heating respectively.

Home Performance Blogger of the Week:

Symbiotic Home (Sym-Home).

Run by Joshua Lloyd, the Sym-Home blog was created to document a deep energy retrofit of an existing home, but grew to cover many of the major topics in the home performance space - including everything from basement finishing, to indoor air quality, to coverage of big trends in the energy efficiency community. Josh is a BPI Certified Building Analyst and LEED AP who conducts energy audits and consults on home performance in the Worthington, Ohio region.