Clayton Homes(a Berkshire Hathaway Company) last month unveiled its first Net Zero home to the public. The company, one of the largest national builders of off-site and site-built homes, paired several energy efficiency upgrades and a solar roofing system to deliver the CrossMod model home it says is both sustainable and attainable. 

Each year since 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Housing Innovation Awards recognize forward-thinking builders who construct homes that are Zero Energy Ready (with net zero achievable with the addition of solar panels). Among the winners of the 2021 Housing Innovation Awards is Milwaukee-area builder Tim O’Brien Homes, which took a top...

Architects play a critical role in the push to decarbonize the built environment, which accounts for 40 percent of global CO₂ emissions. A new and urgent global appeal to architects to accelerate their participation in decarbonization is being driven by the founder of Architecture 2030, Edward Mazria. He recently wrote an open letter urging...

Residential building energy code adoption and implementation have expanded steadily in the U.S. in recent years, with roughly 40 percent of states having a residential energy efficiency code that is equivalent to or higher than the 2015 IECC. With all the progress that’s occurred in recent years, is the building industry reaching peak efficiency?...

In the past three months, Sam Rashkin, chief architect of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, has been traveling non-stop, speaking at meetings and conferences about the expansion of zero energy buildings in the United States. While accustomed to an exacting traveling and speaking schedule, the demands on his time likely...

DOE’s Housing Innovation Awards recognize the best in home building innovation on the path toward Net Zero. Among this year’s winners in the production home category is Insight Homes, a Delaware builder and previous innovation award winner. Insight’s ability to evolve its construction practices to take advantage of the latest in building science...

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has some of the most advanced policies and programs in the country to support a net zero built environment for existing and new construction homes. Other states would do well to follow their lead.