» Building Construction, HVAC, and Landscape Design

Lesson plans, certificates and training programs designed to train a clean energy workforce. (Audience: high school and college students, at-risk youth and low-income populations, building and trade professionals, clean energy employers, graduate students.) Read More

An 84 page report prepared by the Labor Occupational Health Program, University of California at Berkeley, funded by the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights (CPWR) Center for Construction Research and Training Small Study Grant and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It defines green construction jobs and hazards, makes recommendations, and includes case studies. Read More

A collection of 41 low impact urban design and development (LIUDD) case studies on sites from around New Zealand that demonstrate the application of sustainable development and design practices. It provides information for practitioners on how it has been done by others. Read More

Seventeen descriptions with photographic examples of green building Read More

Because there are more than 101 million residential households in the United States today, it is not surprising that existing residential buildings represent an extremely large source of potential energy savings. Because thousands of these homes are renovated each year, Building America is investigating the best ways to make existing homes more energy-efficient, based on lessons learned from research in new homes. The Building America program is aiming for a 20%-30% reduction in energy use in existing homes by 2020. The strategy for the existing homes project of Building America is to establish technology pathways that reduce energy consumption cost-effectively in American homes. The existing buildings project focuses on finding ways to adapt the results from the new homes research to retrofit applications in existing homes. Research activities include a combination of computer modeling, field demonstrations, and long-term monitoring to support the development of integrated approaches to reduce energy use in existing residential buildings. Analytical tools are being developed to guide designers and builders in selecting the best approaches for each application. Also, DOE partners with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase energy efficiency in existing homes through the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. Read More

The Troup-Chambers Habitat for Humanity built a Habitat house to ENERGY STAR standards in LaGrange, Georgia, in 2003. The project was so successfully that all Troup-Chambers houses will now be built to ENERGY STAR standards. Read More

The New American Home is an annual showcase project co-sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders’ National Council of the Housing Industry and Builder Magazine. Merlin Contracting built this year’s home in the Sahara Lake community, just west of downtown Las Vegas. Read More

During times of peak demand, a near zero energy home generates more power than it sues and reduces power demand on the utility provider. In a Florida study, a prototype near zero energy home outperforms a conventional model by providing most of its own power needs throughout the year Read More