Green Building Guidelines: Meeting the Demand for Low-Energy, Resource-Efficient Homes

by Sustainable Buildings Industry Council

Green Building Guidelines: Meeting the Demand for Low-Energy, Resource-Efficient Homes was developed by a committee of builders (both members and non-members of NAHB), architects, building scientists, product manufacturers and others over a 2½ year period (1998-2001). Their work was supported by DOE's Building America Program through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The manual is published by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council and is used in a workshop or seminar setting, or as a stand-alone document. It is a brief, simple-to read, builder-friendly text that is applicable to homebuilders anywhere across the nation who are interested in exploring the notion of rethinking some of the design issues in their current product.

The Green Building Guidelines manual is now in its fourth edition. It has been updated and reorganized a bit to make topics easier to find. We've also added two new sections, `The Whole Building Approach' and `The Building Envelope'. The Guidelines are intended to be national in scope, and as a result, the construction information and example details may not fit all climates or circumstances. The text has been organized to acquaint the reader with basic concepts and provide resources where more detailed information can be located. At the end of each section, readers find "Interactions," references to other sections of the book that describe design strategies, systems, components, or materials that interact in important ways with the topic of the chapter.

146 pages, Spiral-bound

First published April 1, 2007