Affordable Housing Publications
This page provides a list of case studies and other publications that describe affordable and energy-efficient homes developed through Building America research. You can also see additional reports and case studies by climate. These publications are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
Affordable High-Performance Homes: The 2002 NREL Denver Habitat for Humanity House, A Cold-Climate Case Study (PDF 869 KB)
This case study describes the Energy Demonstration Home built by Habitat for Humanity that helped to fine-tune their standard construction to be highly efficient, cost-effective, and volunteer friendly. (April 2005)
Efficient Solutions for Existing Homes Case Study: Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity, Baltimore, MD (PDF 494 KB)
This case study looks at a project by Habitat for Humanity to renovate four historic row houses using Building America best practices, which resulted in energy savings of 32%. (September 2009)
Efficient Solutions for Existing Homes Case Study: Habitat for Humanity, Newburgh, NY (PDF 280 KB)
This case study provides an overview of an affordable housing project using cold-climate, high-performance retrofit strategies. (September 2009)
Efficient Solutions for Existing Homes Case Study: Yakama Nation Housing Authority, Wapato, WA (PDF 179 KB)
This case study looks at the system retrofit package used to improve efficiency of 25 single-family homes on the Yakama Indian Reservation, cutting energy use in half and creating a model for replication across 4,300 homes built on U.S. reservations. (September 2009)
Habitat for Humanity: LaGrange, Georgia, 2003 Jimmy Carter Work Project (PDF 518 KB)
This case study provides an overview of a Habitat for Humanity project including construction and cost information. (June 2005)
Habitat Metro Denver—Perfecting Award-Winning Affordable Homes Using Building America's Integrated Design Approach (PDF 539 KB)
This brochure highlights the energy-efficient features in the Energy Demonstration Home developed by Habitat Metro Denver. (December 2004)
Healthy and Affordable Housing: Practical Recommendations for Building, Renovating and Maintaining Housing (PDF 346 KB)
This report discusses how to ensure good air quality in a home to improve the health of its inhabitants. (2001)
High Performance Builder Spotlight: Community Development Corporation of Utah (PDF 561 KB)
This spotlight looks at the work that Community Development Corporation of Utah is doing to build affordable and energy-efficient homes. (January 2008)
High Performance Builder Spotlight: Lakeland Habitat for Humanity, Lakeland, Florida (PDF 506 KB)
This spotlight looks at Habitat for Humanity homes built in Florida that are achieving significant energy savings. (January 2008)
High Performance Builder Spotlight: Rural Development Inc., Turners Falls, Massachusetts (PDF 554 KB)
This spotlight provides an overview of the efforts of Rural Development Inc, a nonprofit organization, to build affordable housing and key features of the homes. (January 2008)
The NREL/Habitat for Humanity Zero Energy Home: A Cold Climate Case Study for Affordable Zero Energy Homes (PDF 1.1 MB)
This report focuses on how to create affordable zero energy homes (ZEHs) in cold climates. The case study home was a result of collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. (June 2008)
Performance Evaluations of Prototype Houses: Minimum 40% Residential Building Energy Savings Level Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh Liberty Street Project (PDF 1.0 MB)
This report summarizes the successful research initiative with the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh describing the design and build process for six prototype homes. (June 2005)
The reHABITAT Guide: For Energy- and Resource-Efficient Retrofit Strategies (PDF 1.92 MB)
This guide offers approaches that will enable the housing retrofit industry to deliver energy-efficient housing improvements based on research. This guide was developed for Habitat for Humanity International and is the result of lessons learned from demonstration retrofit projects undertaken by Habitat for Humanity affiliates. (July 2004)