BUILDING AMERICA

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Do you want to contribute to research on innovative home building and be at the forefront of improving energy efficiency, all while obtaining free technical assistance? Southface has partnered with Building America, a national research program led by the U.S. Department of Energy, to coordinate industry research teams to develop and implement cost-effective strategies for high-quality, energy-efficient residential buildings.

Under the Building America program, builders and developers around the Southeast who are striving for the next level of energy savings can work with Southface’s experts to identify and implement innovative energy efficiency technologies and products. Using a systems engineering approach to evaluate the whole-house effectiveness of these technologies, the Building America program is working to drive green technology development, with the goals of:

  • Reducing home energy use by 30% to 50%, relative to 2009 energy code standards for new homes and pre-retrofit energy use for existing homes
  • Improving occupant health through high indoor air quality
  • Establishing higher comfort levels in all rooms throughout the home
  • Increasing builder profitability through reduced construction time
  • Encouraging durable and moisture-resistant building designs
  • Promoting opportunities for new product designs that save energy, material and installation costs

To this end, the Building America program has developed a series of Best Practices handbooks and case studies to educate building professionals and homeowners about ways to re-engineer their houses and designs for improved energy performance and quality. Southface’s ongoing analysis and review of project performance helps determine how well new technologies and products work in the real world, helping refine the Building America resources.

Participation in the Building America program is at no cost to the builder, and participants are entitled to technical guidance and free energy modeling (required for many green building programs) from Southface. Builders may also seek certification of a project as meeting the Builders Challenge performance standards, which allow homebuyers to quickly identify durable, energy-efficient homes.