Two Carbon Smart Ideas in the Attic
June 2021
Blog
Blog
Working With Heat Pumps
March 2021
by Brendan Kavanagh
Almost 10 years ago Byggmeister started installing air-source heat pumps (also referred to as “mini-splits”) as part of our energy retrofit projects. Since t...Read MoreEmbodied Carbon: Rethinking Our Approach to Attic and Roof Insulation
December 2020
by Rachel White
In 2018, the International Government Panel on Climate Change put the world on notice: to avert catastrophic and irreversible clim...Read MoreThe Road Ahead
May 2020
by Rachel White
It's hard to remember a time when I have felt as riven by conflicting emotions as I have these past couple of months. Despair and hope. Conviction and doubt. Joy ...Read MoreWhy We Temporarily Suspended Construction During COVID-19
March 2020
by Rachel White
This post was published on March 16, 2020. We resumed field operations the week of May 26th and updated the title to reflect that the work suspension has pass...Read MoreByggmeister 2.0
January 2020
by Rachel White
I began my relationship with Byggmeister in 2008 as a client. My husband and I hired the company to renovate our master bedroom and improve the efficiency of our ...Read MoreThe All-Electric Home
December 2018
by Rachel White and Paul Eldrenkamp
Even before the September 2018 gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover, we were encouraging homeowners to wean themselves from ...Read MoreSpace as a “Green” Metric
June 2017
by Kristina Eldrenkamp
“Green” can be an empty term if it’s not defined in measurable ways. This conviction has informed our efforts to assign performance metrics to projects and...Read MoreControlling Pollutants Caused by Cooking
November 2016
by Paul Eldrenkamp
One of Byggmeister’s goals with each project is to improve indoor air quality. Cooking, it turns out, is a major source of indoor air contamination. A recent L...Read MoreOperating At Net Zero Energy
March 2016
by Paul Eldrenkamp and Rachel White
A few months ago we completed a deep energy retrofit of a house that we hope will be net-zero energy—in other words, that we hope will produce...Read MoreGetting Spray Foam Right
January 2016
by Paul Eldrenkamp and Rachel White
Spray foam insulation scares homeowners more than it should—although this is hardly surprising given the horror stories that abound on the Int...Read MoreA Socioeconomic Context For Ice Dams
September 2015
by Paul Eldrenkamp
This past winter, national insurance companies were sending their “catastrophe response teams” to the Boston area. I personally met with adjusters and ...Read MoreSound Decisions: Designing for Acoustical Comfort
September 2015
by Rachel White
Over the course of our 30+ years in business we could count on two hands the number of renovations where acoustics played a major role. While we have occasionally...Read MoreBringing Your Renovation To Life
June 2015
by Rachel White
Designing a renovation is a collaborative process at Byggmeister. Between the time we first visit a house and sign a construction contract, several members of our...Read MoreThe Best Little Internship in Massachusetts
March 2015
by Paul Eldrenkamp
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (Mass CEC) is a ratepayer-funded public agency charged with promoting the clean energy sector in Massachusetts. O...Read MorePlanning For Net Zero Energy
January 2015
by Rachel White
This is the second in a series of posts on a deep energy retrofit project in Lexington (click Read MoreSustainability, Scandinavian Style
December 2014
by Paul Eldrenkamp
This past October I was in Sweden and Denmark with four colleagues from the Northeast Sustainable Energy Asso...Read MorePreparing a Historic Home for the Next 100 Years
September 2014
by Paul Eldrenkamp
We're passionate about fixing older homes. Most if not all of our projects could be summed up as follows: we adapted a dated, inefficient, and dysfunctional, but otherw...Read MoreWhy and How We Strive to Avoid Additions
January 2014