Library

Guidance from Zero Energy Project on construction techniques for warmer climates, such as home orientation, and insulation requirements.

Report telling consumers how radon gets into a home and how to reduce radon entry into a home.

Webpage from U.S. Department of Energy describing 'cool roofs' and their usage for passive home cooling.

DOE Energy Saver webpage summarizing the use of whole-house fans for cooling.

Fact sheet describing guidance for choosing appropriate materials and using proper construction practices when rebuilding, repairing, or renovating a home to increase its resistance to fires.

Conference paper describing the use of engineered rainscreen products to provide air flow and water drainage space in wall assemblies in residential and commercial buildings.

Guide about designing and installing closed crawlspaces.

Report providing guidance on designing buildings to be flood resistant.

Technical report describing algorithms that use communicating thermostat heating data and that were developed to optimize customer adoption of energy conservation measures, enhancing the identification of retrofit opportunities, estimating post-retrofit energy savings, and enabling home-specific...

Website providing lists of WaterSense-qualified products for home plumbing and irrigation equipment that meet the requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) WaterSense program.

Website listing implementation timelines and links to various versions of the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home national program requirements.

Fact sheet describing drip irrigation for landscaping.

Webpage providing details of an experimental earth tube installation at the Clean Energy Exhibition in Georgia.

Webpage providing earthquake safety tips including proactive home structure and utility action items.

Standard providing minimum functionality requirements for earthquake-actuated automatic gas shutoff devices; applicable to systems carrying natural gas and propane, the devices are used in piping, equipment, and appliances typically found in structures of three stories or less.

Factsheet describing methods for securing HVAC units to avoid damage during an earthquake.

Bulletin describing the components of ECM motors and comparing their efficiency with PSC motors.

Article describing quality of life and economic benefit from trees.

A map describing the average temperature of shallow groundwater in Fahrenheit across the continental United States.

Technical report evaluating the effects of heat pump water heaters on heating and cooling energy usage in laboratory homes.

Webpage from U.S. Department of Energy describing using Earth-Sheltered home building techniques in hot climate zones.

Report describing best practices for installing electric vehicle chargers.

A website with resources for emergency preparedness including videos, guides, and webinars.

A San Diego County standard highlighting the requirements for residential emergency vehicle turnarounds.

Powerpoint on attic ventilation developed as training material for the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Web page providing an overview of window coverings such as blinds, shades, shutters, films, and storm windows.

A standard providing minimum energy efficiency requirements for buildings that are not low-rise residential buildings.

Program criteria for central air conditioner and heat pump equipment.

Program criteria for residential exhaust fans used for ventilation.

DOE-sponsored report describing the experimental setup and results of field studies on using interior cellular shading attachments to reduce solar heat gain in summer and reduce heat loss in winter.

Technical report presenting the results of an evaluation of homes using high-efficiency mini-split heat pumps to supplement the primary heating and cooling systems.

DOE-sponsored report describing a study investigating condensation buildup on windows when using insulating shades.

Report describing the performance, cost, and carbon impacts of unitary heat pump water heaters with load-shifting controls in a shared configuration for a multi-family project, highlighting significant savings in energy usage, CO2 emissions, and utility costs.

A webpage by the DOE on tips for saving energy with an evaporative cooler.

Article describing how evaporative coolers work and how to maintain them.

Image of design wet bulb temperatures in the U.S. and where evaporative cooling is most appropriate.

Web article describing the evolution of evaporative coolers, water usage of evaporative coolers, and links to information on selecting an evaporative cooler.

Article describing benefits of ECM motors and how they can be installed as retrofit motors in HVAC equipment.

Website providing links to scalable guidance and tools about the importance of earthquake mitiation to the private sector, its owners, managers, and employees.

Online geospatial map with interactive viewer showing flood risk areas and base flood elevations

Website describing and providing links to FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center, which home owners and builders can use to determine the flood risk of their location.

Website describing and providing a map showing the tsunami risk index for the United States, which home owners and builders can use to determine the tsunami risk of their location.

Report on the field evaluation of whole-building approaches and estimation of the relative contributions of select technologies toward reducing energy use related to space conditioning in new manufactured homes.

Report describing the in situ performance evaluation of newly released heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), highlighting their energy and cost savings potential compared to conventional electric resistance water heaters and other alternatives, based on data collected from installations in Massachusetts...

Report describing research about a test implementation of an unvented tile roof assembly in a hot-humid climate.

Factsheet describing fire related terms such as noncombustible, fire resistant, fire retardant, flame spread, how they are applied, and related testing standards.

This document includes tips for safely and effectively cleaning up a home after a flood. It is available in several languages.

Website providing information to the public about preparing for floods and floods related to fires.

Article discussing flow-through assemblies of walls.

Checklist providing specific information about the type of residential building eligible for designation consideration in the FORTIFIED Home program.