This question is becoming more common as we begin to move past zero energy homes into the realm of positive energy. Homes can do more than power themselves. They can also put a huge dent in the energy use and carbon emissions from our personal transportation.

When you eliminate the cost of energy from your monthly budget, you also give your buying power a boost. With the right financing, energy efficiency is an investment that pays for itself. Here are several options for energy aware financing that will enhance the buying power of zero.

This middle-class family disconnected from fossil methane and saved money. See their step-by-step approach to powering their home and car with renewable energy.

There is a housing affordability crisis across the United States. Here are eight ways that zero energy helps make homes affordable for those that need it most.

The most recent inventory of zero energy homes by Team Zero, formerly the Net Zero Energy Coalition, has just been released. The sector is steadily growing in the US and Canada.

Energy efficiency is at the core of all green building certification programs. It’s time to ratchet up these modest improvements to make homes as green as they can be by operating them entirely with clean energy.

Natural gas is no more natural than coal or petroleum, and must be phased out rapidly. This means that all new buildings must be powered by clean electricity from renewable sources. It’s just common sense.

Energizing the Green New Deal Part Three is the final installment of our three-part series on realistic, primarily market-based methods for creating a zero carbon economy. Buildings are responsible for about 40% of greenhouse gas emissions and transportation for another 29%, so there is a lot of work to do there. Agriculture and forestry are two more fields that must be addressed.

The future is electric and the power will come mostly, if not entirely, from renewable sources. In Part Two of Energizing the Green New Deal, we get specific about strategies that utilities and heavy industry can utiliz e to address climate change and make a profit at the same time. Utilities will play a central role in guiding development of renewable resources and efficient ways to deploy them. Industry may present the greatest challenges, but there are existing technologies to smooth the transition, plus smart incentives and new technologies in the pipeline.

Saving energy is the same as earning money. You can use these earnings to finance energy improvements that pay for themselves. Learn how to turn a monthly expense into more comfort and value in your home.

It’s no surprise that covering cold windows enhances comfort and improves building energy performance. However, until now there hasn’t been a reliable way to measure or express the efficiency of shades, blinds, shutters and storm windows. Now there is, thanks to the recently created Attachments Energy Rating Council.

The proposal from progressive representatives in Congress is big on aspiration and short on detail. What is the Green New Deal and does it offer a realistic strategy for climate action?