I. Title of the Best Practice

II. Overview of the Best Practice

A. General Description
The U.S. Government sponsors several voluntary initiatives to improve energy efficiency in homes without increasing construction costs. Building America and PATH (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) seek to reduce the energy used by new homes by 30% to 50% while making a number of other quality improvements and cost savings. The Building America program's primary focus is on energy savings potentials in the context of overall home improvement, while PATH includes energy savings among its goals for improved and lower-cost homes.

Building America is a private/public partnership that provides energy solutions for production housing. The Program combines the knowledge and resources of industry leaders with the U.S. Department of Energy's technical capabilities to act as a catalyst for change in the home building industry.

PATH, created in 1998, is a private/public initiative that seeks to accelerate the creation and widespread use of advanced technologies to radically improve the quality, durability, environmental performance, energy efficiency, and affordability of U.S. housing. PATH links key federal agencies that deal in housing issues with leaders from the home building, product manufacturing, insurance, financial and regulatory communities in a unique partnership focused on technological innovation in the American housing industry. PATH seeks to accelerate the use of energy saving strategies developed and demonstrated in the Building America program.

B. Special Characteristics of the Best Practice
Programs are undertaken with broad, multi-disciplinary participation. Under the PATH and Building America programs, teams of architects, engineers, builders, equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, community planners, mortgage lenders, and contractor trades participate, bringing together their skills and resources to make significant changes in building practices. In the Building America program, there are currently four teams comprised of more than 50 different companies.

A systems engineering approach is applied to home building. Throughout the design and construction process, the systems engineering approach considers the interaction between the building site, envelope, and mechanical systems, as well as other factors. It recognizes that features of one component in the house can greatly affect others and it enables the teams to incorporate energy-saving strategies at no extra cost.

PATH includes field evaluations, demonstration projects and national pilot projects that promote focused cooperative research and showcase innovative housing projects. These projects can serve as models for builders and owners across the country. PATH field evaluations, currently underway at seven sites, collect and analyze innovations for technology cost and performance results. PATH demonstrations, currently underway in eight subdivisions with 25 or more homes, illustrate how innovations perform on a community wide or production scale. PATH National Pilot Projects, currently in five sites, each comprising several hundred or thousands of homes, serve as models for the U.S. construction and housing industry because of their new approaches to land planning and design and their use of highly innovative technologies.

Both programs address non-energy aspects important to builders and consumers. PATH's goal is to reduce the monthly cost of new housing by 20 percent or more; cut environmental impact of new housing by 50 percent or more; improve durability and reduce maintenance costs by 50 percent; and reduce by at least 10 percent the risk of loss of life, injury and property destruction from natural hazards and decrease by at least 20 percent residential construction work illnesses and injuries. The Building America program seeks energy-saving solutions that also increase overall builder productivity, and reduce construction waste by as much as 50%.

These programs provide receptive markets for manufactures and suppliers of energy saving materials and techniques. PATH disseminates information on its research and evaluation activities via its web site, www.pathnet.org-- a one-stop shop for ideas, technologies, and tools to help builders and consumers identify and evaluate new possibilities. In addition to updates on field evaluations, demonstration and national pilot projects, PATHNET includes a "Technology Inventory" section currently presenting more than 150 emerging materials, products and systems considered to have less than five percent of their potential market. More than half of the online entries concern energy efficiency.

C. Reasons for Inclusion as Best Practice
Demonstrate excellence. Building America successfully demonstrated energy excellence in 1000 industry-supported research projects across the country. Savings of 30-60% have been demonstrated with little or no increase in cost to the builder. The program continues to explore new ideas with new partners to further improve energy efficiency and/or cost effectiveness.

Address first-cost barriers to energy efficiency and renewable technologies in buildings.

Bring all of the relevant market agents to the table. Both programs work directly in partnership with all aspects of the real estate, manufacturing, and building communities, facilitating exchange of ideas and experiences, as well as helping to transform markets by building the necessary supply networks that help bring new products to market.

Make technical improvement an integral part of the construction process. By supporting industry-driven systems engineering research, for example, the Building America Program provides the feedback required to develop critical "next generation" building systems.

Recognize the need for energy improvements to be part of an overall improvement in housing quality and costs. Consumers want buildings that are low-maintenance, relatively long-lived, are attractive looking, and have good indoor air quality. Both programs focus on efficiency improvements that also enhance these types of building features.

Build improvement into the process. The Building America program requires teams to evaluate their design, business, and construction practices; identify cost savings; re-invest cost savings in improved energy performance and product quality; and extend their efforts from discussion of possibilities to development of solutions using a design, test, redesign, and retest process to resolve technical barriers.

III. Categorizing the Best Practice

1. Classification(s) (Indicate main classification(s) only.)
( ) Regulatory Approach (Policy approaches-- regulations, incentives, etc.)
( ) Practical Action (Action undertaken independently by a social actor)
( X ) Social Network Mechanism (Cooperative structure)

2. Social Actor(s) Involved (Indicate main social actor(s) only.)
( ) Citizens
( X ) Central government
( ) State government
( ) Local government
( ) Not-for-profits
( X ) Business

3. Sector(s) (Indicate main sector(s) only.)
( X ) Energy
( X ) Household
( ) Transportation
( ) Industrial Enterprises
( ) Other (Non-Industrial) -- Businesses (such as financial, insurance institutions)
( ) Agriculture/ Land Use/ Forestry (e.g., wood products laboratories, land planning, etc)
( ) Other (Please specify)

4. Target Greenhouse Gas(es)
( ) CO2
( ) CH4
( ) N2O
( ) HFC
( ) PFC
( ) SF6
( ) Other No specific greenhouse gas is targeted, as these programs focus on energy and waste improvements. Savings in greenhouse gases are, however, a significant by-product of the programs.

IV. List of References

http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/building_america/
http://www.pathnet.org/about/about.html

V. Please indicate a person to contact for more information about this Best Practice.

Contact Person:	George James
Title:	Program Manager, Building America Program
Organization:	U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Building Systems
Email:	George.James@ee.doe.gov
Tel:	(202) 586-9472
Fax:	(202) 586-1628
Address:	1000 Independence Avenue SW, EE-41, Washington, D.C. 20585-0121

Contact Person:	Elizabeth J. Burdock
Title:	Executive Director, PATH
Organization:	U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Email:	Elizabeth_J._Burdock@hud.gov
Tel:	202-708-4277
Fax:	202-708-4258
Address:	470 East L'Enfant Plaza SW, Suite 7110, Washington, DC 22024 USA