Green links

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - LEED

LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings� performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

NAHB - Certified Green Professional

The National Association of Home Builders� Certified Green Professional designation recognizes builders, remodelers and other industry professionals who incorporate green building principles into homes� without driving up the cost of construction. Classwork leading to the designation provides a solid background in green building methods, as well as the tools to reach consumers, from the organization leading the charge to provide market-driven green building solutions to the home building industry.

NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines

NAHB's voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines are designed to be a tool kit for the individual builder looking to engage in green building practices and home builder associations (HBAs) looking to launch their own local green building programs. Since their debut in 2005, the Guidelines have helped move environmentally friendly home building concepts further into the mainstream marketplace.

Smart HomeOwner: Better Home, Better Planet

Green Options Media�s growing network of environmentally-focused blogs provides users with a broad spectrum of information on and direction for making more sustainable choices in their lives.

Tax Incentive Demonstrates Commitment to High Performance Homes

We now have three forces that will
gradually increase buyer interest in highperformance homes: steadily increasing
energy bills; quality advantages (better
comfort, healthier air, more durable construction,etc.); and energy tax credits.

The Future of High Performance Building

Today's high-performance green buildings are a significant improvement over the conventional buildings of the past. They consume significantly less energy, materials, and water; provide healthy living and working environments; and greatly improve the quality of the built environment.

Although notable progress has been made in building performance, for the most part contemporary green buildings use existing materials and products; design approaches, and construction delivery systems. Ecological design, perhaps the key concept in creating high-performance buildings, is in its infancy and sorely needs articulation to be able to create truly green buildings. The concept of green building materials needs to be better defined and methods for their evaluation need to be developed.

The role of nature in buildings is another one of the key areas needing development for the future of green buildings. Natural systems can provide heating and cooling, wastewater processing, stormwater uptake, food production, and a range of other services for the built environment.

New energy strategies, such as ground-coupling, radiant cooling and advanced photovoltaic systems are needed to dramatically lower energy consumption and increase the use of renewable energy systems. Closing materials loops by designing buildings for deconstruction and developing disassemblable building products with recyclable materials is a barely addressed issue in the context of today's green buildings.

U.S. Department of Energy

The Building Technologies Program (BTP) funds research and technology development to reduce commercial and residential building energy use. The program is working to achieve the goal of net-zero energy buildings, which produce as much energy as they consume. BTP works with national laboratories and industry partners to achieve this goal