The Green Builder Media Network

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: We look at the changing housing market, plug-in solar rules, home battery networks, building codes, and the costs that shape housing affordability. Plus, Sara Gutterman talks with sustainability strategist and author Andrew Winston, and we feature a new window-mounted energy recovery ventilator. Plug-in solar: where state laws stand J.P. Morgan’s view of hous...

 Mike and Jim talk about the Space Shuttle program, the early days of energy ratings, the intersection of AI and building codes and a whole lot more on the Impact Series. 

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: A first look at the forces shaping homebuilding in 2027, the rising cost of owning a home, and new ideas for powering and building what comes next. Plus, free training, industry leaders working to redefine home value, and a few spooky Zillow listings. 2027 housing outlook: builders face cost pressures as homeowners and buyers weigh their options. Free COGNITI...

Sara Gutterman talks with sustainability strategist and author Andrew Winston about where the sustainability movement stands amid political headwinds, corporate greenhushing, and renewed pressure for short-term returns. Together, they explore why the underlying forces driving climate action haven’t disappeared, how better valuation could help markets account for environmental and social costs, and...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News : From heat pumps helping the grid to bayou architecture’s aid in climate resilient design to FEMA’s new flood guide. Here’s your weekly update on all things green building:  Could heat pumps help lower electricity rates? Who would have thought bayou architecture could offer such timely lessons for designing in a changing climate? Green Builder Media, Datavati...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: What does housing really cost—and what value does it deliver? We look at the affordability gap, California’s gas-line-to-electric incentive, heat pumps holding market share after federal tax credits ended, and building products made from rice husks. Plus, a major HERS milestone, resilient senior living, modular mass timber, and more. This week’s stories: ENR’...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: Mass timber moves into affordable housing, New York City tests new ways to electrify older buildings, and California pushes the limits of local housing control. Plus, disappearing energy tax credits, private listings and affordability, new resilience data, and our Editor’s Product Pick. Mass timber moves into affordable multifamily housing : A new 150-home de...

In this solo episode of The Valuation Metric, Sara Gutterman examines what the emerging “fire age” means for the way we value homes, communities, and climate risk. As wildfires intensify, insurers retreat, premiums rise, and traditional models built on historical precedent begin to break down. Resilience is becoming an economic issue as much as an environmental one. From prescribed fire and clean...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News. Wildfire risk is beginning to show up in unexpected places in the housing market. This week, we look at how lenders are responding, a battle over building in a California wildfire zone, GM’s move into home energy, new approaches to decarbonization and indoor air quality, and more. Wildfire risk could make a traditional mortgage harder and more expensive to ge...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News. Could the Midwest become America’s next housing hot spot? This week, we look at the emerging “Resilience Belt”—plus, a major shift in where U.S. investment is flowing, surprising insurance data, wildfire-ready homes, new energy technology, construction exoskeletons, and more. Could affordable, lower-risk Midwest metros become America’s next “Resilience Belt”?...

Sara Gutterman talks with architect Bill Ramsey about how thoughtful design can create more value even as homes get smaller and affordability pressures intensify. From flexible floor plans and natural light to shared outdoor spaces, resilient construction, placemaking, and missing-middle housing, this conversation explores why good design is not simply about taking things away until the numbers wo...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: Housing takes center stage this week as Airbnb makes a $250 million bet on getting more homes built, a national coalition pushes communities to “Let America Build,” and local housing battles show just how complicated increasing supply can be. Plus, construction automation, free technical help for builders, COGNITION Smart Data, climate and insurance risk, pla...

 Sara Gutterman talks with Rob Cecil, CEO and President of Alair Homes, about why the true value of a home begins long before construction starts. From custom homes as one-of-a-kind prototypes to wellness architecture, climate resilience, lifestyle alignment, and the power of intentional planning, this conversation explores how builders can move beyond price per square foot and design homes around...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: ICE enforcement is disrupting construction labor in some markets, Passive House is dramatically outperforming standard energy codes, and buyers are showing renewed interest in older homes. Plus: affordable housing that still isn’t affordable, smarter ways to cut energy bills, why trees may be health infrastructure, and a growing remodeling opportunity. Includ...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News. The Mormon Church emerges as a major housing developer, new data show single-family construction spending falling, windowless bedrooms face a ban, plug-in solar comes to California, and modular housing gets a boost. Plus: mass timber skyscrapers, ADUs, heat pumps, the skilled trades and the real story behind America’s housing shortage. In this episode: U.S. C...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News. Stronger building codes, wildfire protection, passive survivability, extreme heat, tariffs, manufactured housing, modular construction and 3D-printed homes are reshaping what resilience and affordability mean for housing. In this episode: • Stronger building codes reduce hurricane damage — Homes built under Florida’s stronger code were 22% less likely to suff...

Mike and Valerie talk about AI data centers, water use and a whole lot more on the Impact Series.

This Week’s Sustainable Building News. Housing starts are falling, AI is influencing home-buying decisions, and affordability is changing where Americans are willing to live. In this episode, we break down the biggest stories shaping housing, sustainability, and the built environment. Housing starts fall, but Oregon bucks the trend . Single-family starts dropped nearly 10% in July, while Oregon ho...

In this solo episode, Sara challenges the idea that America’s housing crisis is simply a shortage problem. Drawing on Harvard’s State of the Nation’s Housing report and COGNITION Smart Data affordability research, she explores why the market is both starved and saturated, and why the real crisis lies in a mismatch of price, buyer, product, and place. From shrinking affordability and stalled mobili...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News: Can renovating an existing home be more sustainable than building new? How is artificial intelligence changing housing and energy infrastructure? Why is wildfire resilience becoming a priority for every builder—not just those in fire-prone regions? We answer the biggest questions shaping the future of housing, construction, resilience, and sustainable develop...

This Week's Sustainable Building News: Can AI data centers make housing more expensive? This week we examine how America's AI boom is competing with homebuilders for land, labor, and construction materials—and why that could affect housing affordability for years to come.  We also explore: Proposed legislation that could reduce homebuilding costs by rolling back tariffs on construction m...

In this episode of The Impact Series, host Mike Collignon talks with Dr. Sybil Sharvelle of Colorado State University about the future of water in an increasingly dry West—and what we can learn from an unlikely source: space travel. From developing water recycling systems for long-duration space missions to advancing water reuse here on Earth, Sharvelle explores how circular water systems, produce...

 Sara Gutterman talks with Lisa White, Co-Executive Director of Phius, about what buildings really cost the grid—and what they should deliver to the people inside them when conditions turn extreme. Together, they explore passive building, climate-specific performance, wildfire smoke protection, passive survivability, and why first cost fails to capture the true value of comfort, health, resilience...

This Week's Sustainable Building News : What do Congress, Wall Street, the electric grid, AI data centers, and homebuyers all have in common? They're reshaping the future of housing. This week, Ronan breaks down the biggest stories affecting builders, developers, architects, policymakers, and anyone interested in the future of high-performance homes. This Week’s Story Links The 21st Cent...

This Week’s Sustainable Building News : Could churches become one of America's biggest new housing developers? This week, we explore the fast-growing YIGBY movement—"Yes In God's Backyard"—and the surprising idea that faith-based organizations could help unlock as many as 800,000 new homes. We also break down why Maryland's battle over building energy codes is really a deb...