• Green Buildings
  • Learn
  • Plan
  • Act
    • Leading Actions
    • Types
      • New Commercial
      • New Residential
      • Existing Commercial
      • Existing Residential
    • Policy Levers
Existing Residential
In the United States, there are 125 million existing residential homes. Americans spend more than $160 billion a year to heat, cool, light and live in our homes, and this energy bill continues to grow.
Rose House, a Zero Net Energy Home in Oregon. Courtesy of: City of Portland

Our homes use about 21 percent of the energy we use as a nation each year, consume a significant amount of electricity and natural gas, and contribute about 17 percent of our national emissions of greenhouse gases.

While homes are more efficient today than they were 30 years ago, considerable opportunity remains for greater home energy efficiency and the associated benefits. Many households could save 20 to 30 percent on their household energy bills through cost-effective household improvements such as buying more energy-efficient products and appliances, sealing air and duct leaks, and adding insulation.

Standards and Programs

Many of the voluntary green building standards that apply to new residential buildings can be applied to major renovations of multifamily buildings and remodels of single family housing and townhouses. 

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ programs for existing residential buildings include:

  • New Commercial Construction and Major Renovation projects 
  • Existing Building Operations and Maintenance 
  • Homes

National Green Building Standard developed by the National Association of Home Builders and International Code Council is an ANSI standard for green home building construction practices. It can be adopted by local green home building programs or local building departments as a conformance guide.

Local and regional green homebuilder programs, which exist in more than 70 communities, often feature guides for green home remodelling. See Resources on this page for a complete listing published by the US Green Building Council. Examples include:

  • Austin Energy Green Building Rating Systems
  • Built Green Colorado
  • GreenPoint Rated program of Build it Green, California
  • Built Green Washington

Energy Star offers tools and resources for homeowners to help improve energy performance. The Home Performance with Energy Star program offers a home label. To qualify for the home label, homeowners work with qualified contractors that use a whole-house approach to improving energy efficiency. Contractors are also trained to help homeowners take advantage of federal tax credits for energy efficiency improvements.

Building America and Partnership for Advancing Housing Technology provide tools and resources for both residential remodellers and homeowners to improve energy performance in existing homes.

American Lung Association Health House provides tools and resources for creating healthier homes.