Public Interest Report

By Lindsey Marburger, Program Manager for the Earth Systems Program The FAS Building Technologies Project, in collaboration with experts from the Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA), created a module in the Second Life virtual world to train building inspectors and code officials to inspect a structure built with structural insulated panels (SIPS), a type of [...]

By Henry Kelly The Obama presidency has opened many doors to progress.  This issue explores aggressive, new programs to cut energy use in buildings. This issue explores  energy efficiency in buildings. We’ve known for years that energy use in buildings is one of the key drivers of U.S. and world energy use and greenhouse gas [...]

By Kelly Shultz, Federation of American Scientists As a contributor to U.S. energy, security, and environmental problems improving buildings’ performance has become an elevated policy push in the past decade. In particular, Section 914 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act and Section 401 of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act address the need to [...]

By Colin McCormick Among all the spending provisions in February’s economic stimulus bill, there was one in particular that stood out for advocates of greater energy efficiency.  The Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which helps insulate the homes of low-income families to lower their energy bills, was given $5 billion of stimulus money.  [...]

By Chris Schwind of the Structural Insulated Panel Association Attention in the environmental and energy-efficiency communities is now turning towards buildings as more and more people realize their enormous potential for energy savings. Studies by the Environmental Protection Agency and other advocacy groups have declared this emphatically, pointing to both their dramatic percentage of national [...]