While health is always on the list of zero energy home benefits, it was the motivating force that prompted Steve Weise and Brenda Nunes to develop this 60-unit neighborhood in Central Washington. All homes in the development include a comprehensive package of proven features that protect health, maintain durability, and guarantee zero energy ready performance. But Steve and Brenda are taking the health of their homes to a higher level.

A good product meets real human needs. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides a powerful framework for converting those needs into effective messaging to homebuyers. To sell more zero energy homes, sellers need to link the needs of home buyers with the many tangible benefits of zero energy homes.

At current rates, most offices and homes will not be retrofitted for decades or even centuries to acceptable levels of energy efficiency. One approach is mandatory building performance standards—requiring existing buildings to meet a performance benchmark (energy or carbon intensity, performance rating, etc.), with owners having multiple years to bring buildings into compliance.

There is a special connection between homes and homebuyers. Yet many new homes are marketed like commodities. To effectively sell zero energy homes, it’s necessary to create a direct link between buyer needs and these homes’ intrinsic values.

Baby boomers have enjoyed unprecedented financial opportunity, convenience, and economic security— benefits built largely from extraction and burning of fossil fuels. The resulting impact on Earth’s climate has created the Baby Boomer carbon debt. It’s time for them to take action to preserve the climate for future generations, but there’s not much time.

Leading U.S. cities are filling a crucial information gap in the residential real estate market by requiring home energy disclosures for potential homebuyers: a much needed transparency measure and consumer protection practice. This process provides buyers with an energy efficiency rating on every property listed for sale. An online resource and a support network are available for local governments that want to adopt similar energy disclosure measures.

On new and retrofitted roofs, you can now use aesthetically pleasing solar shingles to keep the weather out and generate renewable energy. They’re more cost-effective than you may think. We compare costs with other roof options and review pros and cons to help you decide if they are right for you.

Seven times more heat can escape through a window than a wall. There are more choices than ever to balance energy performance with the other important benefits of windows. Choosing windows wisely will help close the gap.

Experts Say Cooking with gas is hazardous to health, according to research that spans the last several decades. A recent study puts the issue in stark terms. Air inside homes can be more unhealthy than outdoor pollution even during a wild fire that fills the air with smoke.

Decades of advertising tell us that gas is cheap. Even without factoring in the cost of climate change, natural gas is no longer the least expensive choice for residential use. It’s a new era of cost-effective, low carbon, all-electric homes.

New homes and buildings will stand for decades, if not centuries. The carbon emissions embodied in the building materials and resulting from the manufacturing and construction processes must be factored into their overall carbon footprints. These four steps will get us started on the path to zero carbon.

There’s no time to lose. We must move rapidly and decisively toward a carbon-neutral economy. Direct action is essential, but cannot happen fast enough. After you have reduced carbon in your home, vehicles, and businesses, there is still more to do. Here’s how.