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Build­ing a home that stands up to severe weath­er and flood­ing is one thing. Design­ing a net zero ener­gy cus­tom home that your clients will love is anoth­er.

Despite under­stand­ing the need for sus­tain­abil­i­ty, many archi­tects, design­ers and build­ing own­ers see the asso­ci­at­ed costs as a bar­ri­er. The real­i­ty is that, while switch­ing to sus­tain­able build­ing prac­tices does require an ini­tial invest­ment, it’s not as much as many assume.

We’ve com­piled a list of zero-ener­gy homes that incor­po­rate sus­tain­able con­struc­tion into the build­ing process. The results are 5 facil­i­ties that prove zero net ener­gy can be achieved with care­ful plan­ning and appro­pri­ate imple­men­ta­tion.

The need to incor­po­rate sound­proof­ing fea­tures in the exte­ri­or walls of today’s homes and build­ings has increased in recent decades. Urban­iza­tion, pop­u­la­tion growth, and an increase in air, rail, and high­way traf­fic all have con­tributed to a wide­spread esca­la­tion of noise pol­lu­tion.

Trag­i­cal­ly, between 2000 and 2017 there were 894 wind and 1417 tor­na­do-relat­ed deaths. In 2017, 36 per­cent of the wind and 63 per­cent of the tor­na­do-relat­ed fatal­i­ties hap­pened either in a mobile or per­ma­nent home. A wind-resis­tant design is crit­i­cal to a home­’s integri­ty and a family’s safe­ty.

Look­ing to build fire-resis­tant homes? Learn how Fox Blocks use ICF fire resis­tance to pro­tect homes from wild­fires with dura­bil­i­ty and safe­ty.”