Residential Research Quarterly: December 2018

In our final quarterly research roundup of 2018, we highlight a report on city-level housing and how it affects public health, a study on how California can increase energy savings in low-income multifamily housing, a USGBC-supported study on global green building trends, a white paper on the health-housing-consumer trend intersection, an annual state scorecard on energy efficiency and a look at the challenges and opportunities that exist for decarbonizing the U.S. building sector.

Advancing City-level Healthy Housing: Policies, Programs and Practices in Asthma and Lead | National League of Cities

Prepared by the George Washington University School of Public Health, this report released by the National League of Cities examines city-level programs and policies that address issues contributing to asthma and lead poisoning in rental housing. This study focuses on the strategies of nine cities in ensuring the health of its residents who reside in private rental units, including proactive rental inspection, performance-based rental licensing and maintaining a sustainable funding source for healthy housing initiatives.

View the full report.

Learn more about how LEED supports human health and wellness.

Plugging Into Savings: California’s Huge Potential for Cost-effective Energy Savings in Low-income Multifamily Housing | Energy Efficiency for All

This study explores opportunities for energy savings through efficiency measures in low-income, multifamily households, including quantifying potential savings through efficient lighting compared to upgraded hearing and cooling systems. Energy Efficiency for All commissioned this study following new directives adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission in 2016, which included requirements for utilities to set energy savings targets.

Read the full report.

Learn how LEED improves energy performance in the new policy brief "LEED v4: Raising the Bar on Energy Performance."

World Green Building Trends 2018 | Dodge Data & Analytics

This fourth installment in series of regular reports on global green building trends focuses on drivers and obstacles of green building activity, benefits of green building certification and the business advantages to embracing green building practices. USGBC served as a partner on this effort, which revealed that green building activity continues to grow worldwide—with nearly half of the survey participants reporting that they plan to build more than 60 percent of their projects as green buildings by 2021. LEED was a particular standout, with two-thirds of respondents agreeing that using a third-party rating system enables better building performance.

Read the full report.

Defining Health and Well-being at Home | Builder

This white paper examines the convergence of trends in health care investments, consumer trends, and home construction, design, engineering and technology. While acknowledging the ease with which consumers can obtain data on their environment and its impact on health, the report reveals a growing opportunity for the building industry to benefit from a better-informed and more health-conscious population. The green building movement is highlighted as an indication of consumers’ growing consideration of their own health as well as the health of the environment, thus creating the potential for codes and standards to evolve to align with this cultural shift.

Read the full report.

2018 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard | ACEEE

This 12th edition of ACEEE’s scorecard ranks states on their policy and program efforts, including performance, best practices and leadership. The report explores six policy areas states can approach, including energy codes and state government-led initiatives on energy efficiency. For 2018, Massachusetts maintained its first-place position, with California, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut rounding out the top five. Notable policy concerning residential projects included California’s newly adopted net zero electricity codes, which will require all new single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings to use solar and efficiency to achieve net zero energy.

See the full scorecard.

See more on USGBC’s new LEED Zero certification, which includes a net zero energy option.

Decarbonizing U.S. Buildings | C2ES

In this brief, C2ES provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities faced by the U.S. buildings sector, as well as a look at long-term trends in building energy consumption. The report finds that even with a projection of population growth of 22.8 percent by 2050, energy consumption in the residential sector is anticipated to remain flat. This prediction is supported by recent advancements in energy efficiency and enhanced building codes. C2ES also reports that many building tenants still lack real-time information on energy use.

Read the full report.

If you have suggestions for future studies we could share, please contact Alysson Blackwelder.

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