Green building & energy links, Dec 22 - Happy Christmas everyone

Construct Ireland takes its Christmas holidays from today, we'll be back on January 4. The next issue of the magazine hasn't gone to the printers yet but will do early in January - it'll contain articles on various retrofit projects, the ESB's home insulation scheme, a striking new low-energy build in Sligo, international green buildings and a huge profile of the Cloughjordan ecovillage project in Tipperary, among much else.

Here a few links to keep you going until then. Happy Christmas.

New solar shingle hits the market: Jetson Green

Vacuum insulated windows: Green Building Advisor (note US sites like this use R-values to demonstrate thermal performance instead of U-values - to convert divide one by the R-value and then multiply by 5.682)

When customers challenge the wisdom of smart meters: Green Building Advisor

New York City backs off retrofit requirement: Green Building Law Update

Green roofs suck up CO2: Treehugger

Green building comes of age: CS Monitor