An empty nester couple found everything they needed and more in this custom home built to the exacting standards of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program in Westminster, Md.

The 2018 award-winning home, dubbed Rose Acres by its owners, Suzanne and Dan Swisher, provides 4,270 square feet of living space, including two bedrooms plus his-and-her offices for the work-from-home couple; a great room, breakfast room, dining room, kitchen and bathrooms on the main floor with full wheelchair accessibility; a second-story loft; a hot tub; a complete two-bedroom mother-in-law apartment in the daylight basement; and beautiful views of the surrounding countryside—all at energy bills of less than $50 per month.

A very cool infographic courtesy of Alan's Factory Outlet ranking the hardness of various types of wood and what the wood is typically used for.

Air sealing is distilled to the most important components in a quick-watch building science vid.

Most new homes perform at about 5 air changes per hour (ACH). By sealing these five key areas, you can lower ACH down 2 or 3, making the house net zero energy ready--with minimal labor, no special skils and no change of insulating material. Once you're done, just add solar.

Become a part of the zero net future.

The Los Angeles Chapter of USGBC is seeking 10 of the most promising solutions for a free, 6-month acceleration program launching in July.  The focus is on technology that creates net zero carbon and waste, and uses net zero energy and water. Their promise is to bring targeted expertise, broad awareness, and high-potential to pilot projects at regional building sites with marquee partners in order to remove roadblocks and speed market adoption.

Kingspan is introducing three new roof panels to the market: KingSeam, KingRib 3 and KingRib 5 . The new options give architects and specifiers additional options for easy-to-install, low-maintenance metal insulated roofing systems that offer superior thermal performance and a high level of fire protection. 

Washington State University researchers are working with a Port Angeles nonprofit organization to develop new housing materials from heat‑treated wood and recycled carbon fiber used in Boeing airplanes.

Researchers from WSU’s Composite Materials and Engineering Center (CMEC) are assisting the Composites Recycling Technology Center (CRTC) in Port Angeles to produce construction‑grade cross‑laminated timber (CLT). A demonstration panel for the first phase of the project will be on display from March 19–21 at the 2019 International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Ore.

Cross‑laminated timber is a relatively new building material in the U.S. that has significant advantages in sustainability over many traditional housing materials, said Don Bender, CMEC director and Weyerhaeuser Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who is the lead investigator for WSU.

The United Veterans Beacon House is a green home and career-maker.

"Everyone deserves to live in a healthy home.” This has become the operating slogan for United Way of Long Island Housing Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization that builds homes for local governments and several of the 126 agencies funded under the United Way of Long Island (UW-LI) umbrella. To fulfill this “healthy housing for all” vision, United Way began constructing homes to meet the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home (ZEHR) program in 2014 and has certified five homes so far, including the United Veterans Beacon House, a 3,719-square-foot, two-story home in Huntington Station, N.Y.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge are using microencapsulation technologies developed by Dolomite Microfluidics to develop self-healing construction materials. 

As highlighted in recent BBC News broadcasts, the Department of Engineering’s Geotechnical and Environmental Research Group is developing microcapsules containing ‘healing’ agents – such as minerals, epoxy or polyurethane – which can be added to building materials to allow self-repair of small cracks which develop over time.* Dr Livia Ribeiro de Souza, a postdoctoral researcher in the group, explained: “Many composite building materials used in the construction industry – such as concrete – suffer fatigue over time, developing small cracks. We are hoping to overcome this problem by adding microcapsules filled with ‘healing’ agents to the concrete before it is used. The idea is that, as cracks begin to form, they rupture the microcapsules, releasing their payload and stabilizing the material.”

Heavy insulation, top-notch air sealing and energy-miser appliances make Courtyard Rows a crowning achievement in multi-family living.

Thrive Home Builders could rest on its laurels. After all, the Denver-based company has won grand awards for housing innovation from the U.S. Department of Energy four years in a row. Thrive has built more DOE Zero Energy Ready-certified homes than any other builder in Colorado and has the second-highest number of homes certified nationally, with 280 as of August 2017. Gene Myers, the owner and CEO of Thrive Home Builders, was awarded the Denver-area Home Builders Association 2016 Builder of the Year Award. Thrive was the first “solar standard” builder in Colorado and the first production home builder to include DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) certification as a standard feature for an entire series of houses.

For Greenhill Contracting, building zero-energy-capable homes are an everyday thing.

Nearly 10 years ago, homeowners of one of the nation’s first zero-energy homes, built in the Green Acres community in New Paltz, N.Y., posed the question, “Why isn’t every home built this way?”

While many are still pondering that question, builder Anthony Aebi of Greenhill Contracting in Esopus, N.Y., is doing his part to make sure more homes are built that way.