To stay competitive, a production builder must find a good balance between cost, price, and profit. Here’s the story of one builder who has successfully added high-performance, clean energy features to their standard offering. More importantly this builder has developed an elegant solution to the challenge of solar-powered homes producing energy when it is not needed by the grid.

A new study shows that the cost of zero energy homes is very close to that of homes built to code. Best of all, costs are dropping and the trend is expected to continue.

Location is one of the first decisions made about a new home purchase, and it is one of the most consequential. While it may not occur to you that location affects energy efficiency… it does!

Designers and builders may need to make adjustments in their homes when California implements its upcoming zero energy building code for homes. Those adjustments are spelled out and illustrated in this new booklet. It’s a great guide for zero energy home design no matter where you live.

At some point, homes can become too broken to fix. Instead of pumping public funds into lost causes, combine existing funding sources to provide new homes that are safe, healthy and dignified for a longer-term, smarter solution.