Design Techniques, Construction Practices & Materials for Affordable Housing

Green building is a time-tested, practical and intuitive approach to creating environmentally sound buildings. Green building combines age-old wisdom; tradition and collaborative design processes; and modern building science, technology and materials application.

Green building structures are energy efficient, conserve resources, create healthier indoor environments and offer durable and beautiful spaces that use environmentally suitable materials. Green building incorporates integrated design concepts, solar orientation, appropriate footprint sizing, glazing awareness, material durability, economic life-cycle analysis, material reuse and salvage, natural material content, locally available materials and economic sustainability.

These Home Remodeling Green Building Guidelines were developed:

• To present a range of voluntary green measures for building professionals and homeowners to choose from when remodeling a home in California
• To provide local governments with an educational tool for city staff, building professionals and homeowners interested in green residential remodeling
• To offer cost-effective suggestions to minimize construction-related waste, create healthier and more durable homes, reduce operating costs for homeowners and support local manufacturers and suppliers of resource-efficient building materials
• To create a policy foundation for local governments interested in implementing a green building program
• To establish regional consistency in green building guidelines to increase predictability for building professionals
• To integrate varying residential initiatives in order to achieve greater simplicity and local applicability
• To offer methods to reduce the impacts of building in California communities, including solid waste management, water conservation, energy efficiency and resource conservation
• To offer a set of guidelines developed by an independent, third-party source in collaboration with a wide range of expert stakeholders

These residential Guidelines were developed for the following reasons:

• To provide local governments with an educational tool for city staff, builders and homeowners interested in green residential construction
• To present a range of voluntary measures for builders to choose from when constructing a green home in California
• To create a policy foundation for local governments interested in implementing a green building program
• To establish regional consistency in green building guidelines to increase predictability for builders
• To integrate varying residential initiatives in order to achieve greater simplicity and local applicability
• To offer a set of guidelines developed by an independent, third-party source.