This page offers Green Building Advice, Standards, and Resources. Sustainable Building, Energy Conservation, and Renewable Energy are huge aspects of green building and can be found on other pages on this site. See examples of a ‘Passive House’, Off-Grid building, and Sustainable Communities, and more below.
Wikipedia on Green Building: “Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the using of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.”
List of green/sustainable building links, resources, organizations, jobs, courses and events.
Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC)
Ontario Centre for Green Building Design and Development
LEED® – Canada Green Building Council
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system that is recognized as the international mark of excellence for green building in 150 countries.
GBD Magazine: Ottawa Carbon Neutral Community
International Living Institute
Green Building Education, Training, Courses, Workshops & Events in Canada:
Planet Friendly Green Building Events, Workshops, Courses
Green Building Jobs:
Canada: Green Building Jobs at GoodWork Canada
CaGBC- Jobs
USA: USGBC
More: Canadian green job sites
A “Passive House is a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint.[1] It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling.” (wikipedia)
Canadian Passive House Institute
It is great to see Zero-energy building and Low-energy building as a new trend and standard. Rising energy costs and an increasing ‘green’ sensibility are resulting in more and more buildings being outfitted to be eco-friendly and cost-efficient.
Net Zero Building or Zero-energy Building is defined on Wikipedia as “building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site”.
Natural Resources Canada – Net Zero Energy (NZE) Housing
Net-zero Energy Home Coalition (Canada)
Happy DIY Home.com/roof-insulation/
Natural Resources Canada (article)
An Active House generates more heat and power than it needs. Companies working in this industry include Aktivhaus and Active House. See their sites for more details.
Strawbale Construction “is a building method that uses bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye, and oats straw) as structural elements, building insulation, or both.” (wikipedia)
Ontario Strawbale Building Coalition
Planet Friendly on Strawbale building
Related Topics
Sustainable community energy system
Ecovillages
What is an Ecovillage? (2) “Ecovillages are frequently built with green and/or natural techniques, and extend the concept to the design of the whole community.” (wikipedia)
Lists of Ecovillages & Eco-Communities:
Worldwide: Global Ecovillage Network (source)
Wikipedia’s List of Ecovillages
Ecovillages listed on EcoProperty Canada – eco-houses/homes, buildings, property, real estate for sale or rent in Canada
USA: Ecovillage Network of the Americas
Europe: GEN-Europe
Diggers and Dreamers – A Guide to Communal Living in Britain
