Green Building: Residential

What is green building?
The term “green building,” refers to designing and constructing buildings to increase performance and enhance the experience for people who work, live and play in these structures. The term green building is often used interchangeably with sustainable, high performance, or healthy building. Buildings are an important piece of the sustainability puzzle as they consume significant natural resources. By providing both general and technical information about green building practices, CORE is helping accelerate the adoption of green building practices as the industry standard, and beginning to help move the region towards a sustainable future.

Local Case Studies

Many homes in our valley have incorporated energy efficient building techniques, appliances, renewable energy, or recycled-content materials. Click on one of our featured efficient homes for a virtual tour.

Next Generation Homes are models of efficiency and style. Click Here to learn more.

Find Aspen's Efficient Building Program Checklist, Guidelines, and Resource Guide at: www.aspenpitkin.com/depts/41/bldg_efficient.cfm

	This home features several passive solar techniques such as solar orientation, a Trombe wall, the use of thermal mass and appropriate window placement. Click here for a photo tour!
	This home is built from reclaimed lumber and features both passive and active solar aspects, such as a solar hot water system and a solar electric system. Click here for a photo tour!
	Strawbale homes like this one have extremely good insulation--above R-40. Strawbales are also a rapidly renewable material. Click here for tour.
	This Aspen home uses both passive and active solar. A large greenhouse on the south-side traps heat that is vented into the home when needed. The solar hot water system also supplies space heat, infloor radiant heat, and domestic hot water.

The following links are great efficient building sites:

See our site links for other important efficient building resources.