Publications

Here you will find key publications and case studies outlining Building America strategies and techniques. If you prefer, you can search the full Building America Publications Database. You can also see affordable housing publications that describe cost effective, energy-efficient homes for low-income residents developed through Building America research. These publications are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Building America Best Practices Series and Case Studies

The Best Practices handbooks help builders achieve whole-house energy savings in five major climates. Using the system recommendations and process improvements from the handbooks, all builders can re-engineer their designs to achieve improved energy performance and quality.

Additionally, Building America provides case studies in all climate zones to further illustrate how these techniques and strategies are put into practice.

Below, you can access the Best Practices handbooks and a listing of case studies by climate zone. To view a listing of climate regions by county, see the Guide to Determining Climate Regions (PDF 1.2 MB).

The Map of the United States shows climate zones in different colors. The Marine zone contains the Pacific coast from the Canadian border to mid-California. The Hot-dry/Mixed-Dry zone contains the rest of California and follows the US border to mid-Texas. The Hot-Humid zone covers eastern Texas through Florida and includes Puerto Rico and Hawaii. The Mixed-Humid zone covers the mid-central to mid-eastern regions of the country. The Cold/Very Cold zone contains all of the Northern United States.

Cold & Very Cold Climates

Best Practices Handbook — Volume 3 (PDF 5.6 MB)
Case Studies

Hot-Dry & Mixed-Dry Climates

Best Practices Guide to 40% Energy Savings — Volume 9 (PDF 23.2 MB)
Best Practices Handbook (15% Energy Savings) — Volume 2 (PDF 4.7 MB)
Case Studies

Hot-Humid Climate

Best Practices Handbook — Volume 1 (PDF 7.0 MB)
Case Studies

Marine Climate

Best Practices Handbook — Volume 5 (PDF 5.5 MB)
Case Studies

Mixed-Humid Climate

Best Practices Handbook — Volume 4 (PDF 5.9 MB)
Case Studies

All Climates

Solar Thermal & Photovoltaic Systems — Volume 6 (PDF 9.5 MB)
Builders Challenge Quality Criteria Support Document — Volume 8, Version 1.2 (PDF 12.4 MB)

Publications Database

For additional resources, search the full Building America Publications Database. The database offers information from a variety of sources addressing building technologies and strategies.