High-Performance Homes as a Tool to Combat Climate Change

Award-winning Sturgeon Bay architect Virge Temme will discuss high-performance homes as a tool to combat climate change Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Bjorklunden, 7590 Boynton Lane, Baileys Harbor. Her talk, presented by the Climate Change Coalition of Door County, will begin at 7 pm. It is free and open to the public, though free-will donations to support the coalition’s work are gratefully accepted.

Temme will present a range of options for high performance homes, from those that significantly lower energy requirements to Net Zero Energy buildings, which produce sufficient renewable energy on site to offset energy use entirely. She will describe attributes of these structures, their costs and design strategies, as well as national and global trends in building construction aimed at reducing the impact on climate change.

Buildings are key to combating climate change. They contribute 35 to 40 percent of atmospheric carbon dioxide, so reducing their carbon footprints can help slow global temperature rise, which is increasingly tied to superstorms, flooding, drought, fires, food scarcity, dangerous health effects and mass migration.

Temme’s practice focuses on environmentally responsible and energy efficient design. She is a leader in green design and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified projects in northeastern Wisconsin and an active member of the United States Green Building Council. She received her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign, and has been a professional residential designer since 1988. In 2016 she received the national Women in Sustainability Leadership Award and is a featured speaker, panelist and author on green architecture and sustainable design. 

The Climate Change Coalition of Door County is a non-partisan organization that through education, outreach and civil dialogue increases public understanding of climate change and its many detrimental impacts at home and around the world. Your donation for the Climate Change Coalition to our fiscal agent, Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, is tax-deductible as allowed by law. Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership is a 501(c)(3) organization.