News

It was a cold December day when we visited The Taylorville High School net zero Pretty Good House project, but as true with homebuilders everywhere, a bit of tough weather doesn’t get in the way. Matt Blomquist’s students have made great progress over the past two months. Drywall is going up, and mechanical systems are being installed.

Our friends at Greenshell in Northbrook (a suburb of Chicago) have completed another fantastic example of a low-energy “passive” home with the newest building technologies (including the CERV2)!

Check out the highlights and photos!

An old idea; that neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s are linked to earlier infections such as the flu, continues to gather supporting evidence. Like football player concussions exacting a dreadful toll years later, catching the flu or Covid may make us pay a price today and tomorrow.

Wouldn't it be great if airborne contagions, such as influenza, rsv, Covid and more, could be detected before they have a chance to spread through our schools, workplaces, houses of worship, restaurants, and every indoor environment?

Yes, it would be fantastic, and Build Equinox is excited to announce a National Science Foundation grant awarded to our University of Illinois colleagues for development of advanced airborne contagion detection technologies coupled with communication alert systems to help stop airborne disease spread.

Our friend, John Avenson, a tireless warrior working for a sustainable future, is the subject of a video production by Heart of a Building, hosted by Paul Kriescher. The video will appear on Rocky Mountain PBS at a date to be announced, but Paul has made the production available on YouTube for general viewing.

E3 - Energy and Efficiency with Emily is all about building science, architecture, and female entrepreneurship. On this episode of E3, Matt Blomquist (Taylorville High School) and Ty Newell (Build Equinox) talk about the ongoing Taylorville High School / Pretty Good House collaboration.

The Build Equinox team makes an electricity powered drive up to Toronto, Canada, to check out a new medical facility showcasing the CERV-1000 High Occupancy Indoor Air Quality Management System. Check out our blog for the trip and learn more!

Every athlete works to find every advantage to reach peak performance. Improving the efficiency of their motions, carefully managing their diets, and continuous training are important. Healthy air training is essential, too.

Tune into Walter Musumeci’s “The WIP” Podcast with Guest Ty Newell discussing ventilation and its impact on human health and productivity! The Georgetown-Ridge Farm junior high school’s CERV-1000 smart ventilation project is discussed along with Matt Blomquist's net zero Pretty Good House construction project.

Positive pressure flow balancing can lead to significant energy savings, noise reduction, and robust ventilation system operation. In this article, we discuss how to replace dampers with inline fans for a better system!

Is AI truly intelligent, or is it simply a complex way of determining correlation relationships among large sets of data?

Why is AI important, and not so important for maintaining healthy indoor environments?

A third of North American homes have someone with respiratory difficulties...

As we unfortunately move into another wildfire season, we would like to remind readers of steps to be taken to minimize smoke and other particulate concentrations in your home.

Join us for an insightful webinar on the Taylorville High School's net zero "Pretty Good House" project, based on Mottram Architecture's "Freeport Net Zero" design.

Gain valuable knowledge on designing healthy indoor environments, cost-effective duct work, and optimizing HVAC systems for efficiency, featuring insights from Matt Blomquist and Ty Newell of Build Equinox.

The school year has flown by, and Matt Blomquist's seniors are graduating while juniors are set to continue working on the Taylorville net zero Pretty Good House (PGH) project. The house, now insulated with wood fiber insulation and featuring a newly installed high-quality steel roof, is progressing well despite rainy weather.

This hands-on project not only teaches students construction skills but also fosters critical thinking and project planning, introducing innovative building techniques to the community.

Recently, Victor and Ty visited the CSF, collaborating with Cal and his daughter Elise on innovative smart ventilation units, enhancing both their headquarters and a new bank, reflecting the impactful work of the CSF in revitalizing downtown Deerfield, Wisconsin.

Earn free CEUs and learn about an exciting 1964 split-level home renovation project from Amy Myers and Mike Baker achieving LEED Platinum and GHI Zero Energy Certification.

And, of course, they chose the CERV2 to ensure healthy indoor air quality!

Build Equinox is pleased to announce that our collaboration with University of Illinois researchers on human-correlated particulates is now available.

These research results provide an important quantitative foundation for understanding particulate concentrations in rooms due to human occupancy relative to ventilation and filtration of indoor spaces.

We are thrilled to announce that our AprilAire and Carrier friends are joining Build Equinox, donating HVAC components to support the Taylorville High School Pretty Good House net zero home project. This home will be healthy, comfortable, and efficient!!

The Lakeside Net Zero Passive House, awarded LEED Platinum and Passive House certifications, exemplifies sustainable living through modern design and eco-friendly practices, including the use of the CERV2 ventilation system

In our ongoing mission to enhance indoor air quality and promote healthier living environments, we are excited to share the success stories of two recent CERV2 installations in the Metropolitan Milwaukee area.

This month, we spotlight the impact of our CERV2 system in both a condominium unit and a single-family home, each with their unique stories and occupants but sharing the common goal of achieving healthy indoor air quality.

Solar living pioneer and our good friend and fresh air promoter, John Avenson, was recently interviewed on Colorado Public Radio (CPR) along with Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day and the first Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute (now, NREL, National Renewable Energy Laboratory).

Why didn’t solar grow from its initial push in the 1970s? Listen to John and Denis discuss the early history of solar living with CPR host Sam Brasch, and become inspired with John’s continued efforts to move us to a sustainable future!

This article describes ductwork design and airflow analysis for the Taylorville High School Pretty Good House (THS PGH) project and gives an update of project activities.

The CERV-1000 unit never sacrifices student and teacher health and well-being. No matter what weather Nature throws at us, the CERV-1000 quietly delivers up to 1000cfm of fresh filtered, UV sanitized air with 3 tons of comfort conditioning for classrooms and other high occupant density spaces.  

See how the CERV-1000 did with an 8-day period in January with an average outdoor temperature less than 10F (-12C) and low temperatures reaching -5F (-21C)!

In this article, we use ZEROs for the third part of PGH design, “Manual J” modeling of comfort conditioning capacities for different regions of the Taylorville High School / Pretty Good House collaboration.

Health and productivity continue to take a back seat to energy. During the pandemic, building conferences included sessions on indoor air quality and health.

Now that the danger of contagion transmission is over (is it?), IAQ conference sessions are less frequent as heat pumps have taken center stage.

It’s important that we don’t carbonize people as we decarbonize buildings with elevated carbon dioxide and other pollutant concentrations.