GPR Version 8.0: Six Things You Should Know
California is the leading state in energy, sustainability, and smart design and construction practices, and Build It Green’s GreenPoint Rated program is staying on top of the game as well by tweaking their standards toward the ultimate goal of minimal carbon emissions...
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Proposes Community Solar Program
California’s 2019 Energy Code, which goes into effect January 1, 2020, mandates photovoltaic installation for all new low-rise residential buildings. One compliance path is to allow for Community Solar to directly tie solar power into specific buildings in a...
Updates to the Energy Efficient New Homes Program (EENH)
SoCalGas has updated their Energy Efficient New Homes (EENH) Program to provide increased and more attainable incentives to builders who install qualifying energy-efficient natural gas appliances and controllers in new residential construction projects. As a general...
Avoiding HERS Rating Holdups
The 2019 Code cycle is almost in effect, and with it comes increased energy performance requirements. With the current code challenges in place and new ones to come, there are a few things we can do to mitigate the risks in passing HERS field verification testing and...
City of San Jose All Electric Ordinance Clarified
The City of San Jose all electric ordinance is not that “all electric”. Recently the City of San Jose announced their intent to steer the city’s energy use in all new buildings to rely solely on electricity starting with the 2019 Energy Code. This was an aggressive...
How Will Augmented Reality Change Building Design and Construction?
As our world constantly changes, technology drives forward to match the challenges of today and tomorrow. World populations are growing and more and more people are living in city environments. Designing and constructing buildings efficiently to be long-lasting,...
Eight Design Tips for Urban Food Gardens
As market demand shifts towards sustainability, architects and developers will have to rethink their approach as to what constitutes a green building. One method to stand out is designing the project to allow for local food production. Urban food gardens provide a...
Top Five Benefits of Going All-Electric in Buildings
California cities like Berkley, San Luis Obispo, and Menlo Park are moving towards all-electric buildings and banning gas hook-ups for new construction. Electrification is a trend that will likely continue as the clean energy economy evolves. Here are the top five...