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University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Green/Sustainable Building: Web Sites

A guide to resources related to green building and sustainable architecture

Green Building Resources from GLRPPR

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Community Initiatives

City of Austin Green Building Program
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/greenbuilder/
Fact sheets, publications, and other resources for homeowners, renters, and people in the design and construction professions.

Cleveland Green Building Coalition
http://www.clevelandgbc.org/
The Cleveland GBC is an umbrella organization for groups involved in residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial green building. Also is a clearinghouse for information on green building activities in Cleveland and other cities.

Florida Green Building Coalition
http://floridagreenbuilding.org/
Non-profit corporation formed to advance a Florida-wide green building program.

Wisconsin Environmental Initiative Green Built Home
www.greenbuilthome.org
Green Built Home™, a voluntary program of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative, is a green building initiative that reviews and certifies homes that meet sustainable building and energy standards.

Wisconsin Green Building Alliance
http://www.wgba.org/
Their mission is to facilitate and promote the development and use of ecologically sustainable materials and practices among builders and contractors in Wisconsin. Good links to green building information.

Portals and General Information

About.com Green Building Concepts
http://architecture.about.com/cs/greenconcepts/index.htm
Links to information about green building design. Geared toward architects, builders, and planners.

Building Energy Optimization (BEopt) Software Tool
http://beopt.nrel.gov/
Downloadable software tool that evaluates residential building designs and identifies cost-optimal efficiency packages at various levels of whole-house energy savings. BEopt can be used to analyze both new construction and existing home retrofits, through evaluation of single building designs, parametric sweeps, and cost-based optimizations.

Building Environmental Science and Technology (B.E.S.T)
http://www.energybuilder.com/index.htm
B.E.S.T. is a green building consulting firm. The site is very heavy on good content for green building.

Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development: Green Buildings
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/buildings/rescon.shtml
U.S. Department of Energy site with a nice overview of green building.

Civil Engineering Portal --> Architecture --> Sustainable Building
http://www.icivilengineer.com/Architectural_Engineering/Sustainable_Buil...
Another portal site, this one by iCivilEngineer.com. Focus is more on design issues for architects.

Green Design / Sustainable Architecture: Resources
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/GreenAll.html
Comprehensive guide to materials held at the University of California-Berkeley's Environmental Design Library.

U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Program
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/index.html
Part of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network. Includes information for homeowners, builders & designers, commercial building owners, and researchers. Mostly deals with energy efficiency issues.

Green Building
http://www.pprc.org/pubs/greencon/index.cfm
Developed by the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Research Center, this is a guide to green building for project developers and for the design, construction, and facility operation professionals they hire.

Green Building Maintenance
http://greenbuildingmaintenance.com/
Site devoted to green practices in building maintenance.

Green Design Network
http://www.greendesign.net/
Sponsored by Global Environmental Operations, a non-profit organization, the Green Design Network includes the Green Building Resource Center, a searchable database of green design and building resources.

Greenhomebuilding.com
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/
Maintained by a couple who built a house using green building principles. Includes book and video recommendations.

Home Improvement Toolbox
http://www.epa.gov/hhiptool/
Developed by U.S. EPA's Energy Star program, this site offers an array of interactive tools to helps consumers make energy-saving, cost-effective upgrades to their homes, enhancing their homes' value and comfort, while also protecting the environment.

Housingzone.com -- Green Building
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/green.asp
Green building portal sponsored by Housingzone.com.

Peaks to Prairies Residential Construction Topic Hub
http://peakstoprairies.org/topichub/toc.cfm?hub=31&subsec=7&nav=7
Part of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) network of resources. Includes information and links for green design, green products, energy efficiency, water use, air quality, and building codes and standards.

Residential Construction and Environment
http://www.peakstoprairies.org/p2bande/construction/index.cfm
Developed by the Peaks to Prairies Pollution Prevention Information Center, this guide to residential construction includes links to FAQs, news, an industry guide, and links to several helpful online publications.

Sustainable Architecture, Building, and Culture
http://www.sustainableabc.com/
Links to green building and sustainable development resources.

Sustainable Energy Guide
http://sustainableindustries.com/sustainable-energy-guide/
A company’s physical location is probably the most resource intensive part of business operations. This handbook aims to address energy use in facilities and transportation.

YourHomePlanet Environmental Building Design and Green Construction Searchable Web Portal
http://www.yourhomeplanet.com/
Another green building portal with a Yahoo-like directory structure. Links to green building news, conferences, and periodicals near the bottom of the page.