RESOURCES

• “THE NEW NET ZERO”, by William Maclay and Maclay Architects, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014
  • An excellent book about leading-edge design and construction of energy efficient homes and commercial buildings. Written by an architect with experience building energy efficient buildings in the Northeast US. The book provides house design metrics used to reach zero net-energy for structures built in the Northeast US.
• Rocky Mountain Institute (“RMI”), www.rmi.org
  • An organization with a goal of transforming the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future. While RMI’s focus isn’t specifically on zero net-energy houses, they do have reports on this topic.
• Building Science Corporation (“bsc”). www.buildingscience.com.
  • Provides a free on-line resource containing educational materials on design and construction of buildings that are healthier, less energy-consuming, more durable, and economical.
• HERS Index. www.hersindex.com
  • Website explains the HERS Index, which is now required in many building jurisdictions. The HERS rating system is designed by the Residential Energy Services Network (“RESNET”), see www.resnet.us
• The Green Building Advisor. www.greenbuildingadvisor.com
  • Provides on-line materials written by experts on the designing, building and remodeling of ‘green’ buildings.
• PVWatts. www.pvwatts.nrel.gov
  • An easy to use (and widely used) simulator to estimate power (watts) produced by a solar array.
• HeatSpring. www.heatspring.com
  • Provides a platform for industry experts to offer on-line courses on solar, green energy and other technologies. The courses tend to be very practical and very educational. Excellent resource.
• New Building Institute (“NBI”). www.newbuildings.org.
  • An organization helping to promote buildings that are better for people and the environment. They also have a website www.gettingtozeroleadership.org that provides a list of resources and a discussion forum. NBI also has a database that tracks zero net-energy buildings constructed in the US and Canada.
• Erik’s Blog https://ehaugsjaa.wordpress.com.
  • An insightful blog that, among other things, provides a list of very energy efficient houses in the Northeast US.
• The Passive House Institute (“PHI”), www.passivehouse.com.
  • Promotes the development of the Passive House concept.
• Team Zero and their partners EEBA and Zero Energy Project (see https://teamzero.org)
  • Provide connections to resources to help you reach net-zero. They offer on-line courses plus have a list of case studies of net-zero buildings.