Resources for Green Home Building
With all the information out there, this can be a confusing task, but there are a lot of great resources to get you started.
Begin at the Building Green news page, an industry news site, and the New York Times' Green blog, which covers energy and the environment.
For practical information, check out the U.S. Department of Energy's "Energy Savers" page, a very well organized overview of everything energy-efficiency. Next, skip over to the EnergyStar home improvement section and read some of their publications. There's even a podcast to educate you while you're on the move.
There are books aplenty as well. Try Fine Homebuilding's Energy-Efficient Building, a portion of which you can read on Google Books. Also look for:
- The Homeowner's Handbook to Energy Efficiency: A Guide to Big and Small Improvements by John Krigger and Chris Dorsi
- Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings: Save Money, Save the Earth by Jennifer Thorne Amann, Alex Wilson, and Katie Ackerly
- Green from the Ground Up: Sustainable, Healthy, and Energy-Efficient Home Construction (Builder's Guide) by David Johnston and Scott Gibson
- Insulate & Weatherize from Taunton's Build Like a Pro
If you've read all you can read and are ready to delve deeper, there are a number of educational programs and courses available.
The Energy and Environmental Building Alliance offers a program called "Houses That Work," which is a "turnkey, multi-platform" course that imparts sustainable building principles that apply to entire building process.
The "Houses that Work" course can be done online through the Green Builder College, which allows you to learn even more with various levels of study, including certification programs.
Check out the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)'s course catalog, which features online and in-person educational programs. For a return to the basics, try out their K-12 curriculum. Or, for a little light reading on green building, check out USGBC's research publications and project case studies pages.
The Southface Institute also has trainings and workshops as well as a comprehensive library of information.
With a little gumption and few good resources, you can be just as-or more-knowledgeable about green building practices than your builder. Maybe you'll end up in the field yourself!
