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Publications

On this page you can link to key publications outlining Building America strategies and techniques. If you prefer, you can search the full Building America Publications Database. These publications are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Building America Best Practices Series

The Best Practices handbooks help builders achieve whole-house energy savings in five major climates. The handbooks detail how Building America's system recommendations and process improvements can help all builders re-engineer their designs to achieve high performance.

The Best Practices Series addresses every member of the building team including site planners, site supervisors, designers, managers, marketers, and trades. There is also a chapter to help homeowners select the best systems for their home. To view a listing of climate regions by county, see the Guide to Determining Climate Regions (PDF 1.2 MB).

The Map of the United States shows climate zones in different colors. The Marine zone contains the Pacific coast from the Canadian border to mid-California. The Hot-dry/Mixed-Dry zone contains the rest of California and follows the US border to mid-Texas. The Hot-Humid zone covers eastern Texas through Florida and includes Puerto Rico and Hawaii. The Mixed-Humid zone covers the mid-central to mid-eastern regions of the country. The Cold/Very Cold zone contains all of the Northern United States.
  • Volume 1: Hot-Humid Climate (PDF 7.0 MB)
  • Volume 2: Hot-Dry & Mixed-Dry Climates (PDF 4.7 MB)
  • Volume 3: Cold & Very Cold Climates (PDF 5.6 MB)
  • Volume 4: Mixed-Humid Climate (PDF 5.9 MB)
  • Volume 5: Marine Climate (PDF 5.5 MB)
  • Volume 6: Solar Thermal & Photovoltaic Systems for all climates (PDF 9.5 MB)

Building America Publications Database

For additional resources, search the full Building America Publications Database. The database offers information from a variety of sources addressing building technologies and strategies.