Green Building for Contractors

Green Building for Contractors track: To become Green Builder certified, each enrolled user must complete the first seven courses listed below. Each study course in this curriculum addresses the fundamental principles of green building relating to energy efficiency, building durability, indoor air quality, resource efficiency, and water efficiency.

Completion of the course work includes passing the test associated with each course. Users who pass all tests will be eligible to receive a Green Builder Certificate.

Green Building: Orientation

Over the next 20 years, approximately 1.2 to 1.5 million new homes will be built each year in the United States alone. Every one of those homes represents tremendous consumption; each one requires an ongoing use of resources. More than ever, we need to find ways to mitigate that consumption by making our products - homes - perform better.

Success as a Green Builder ultimately depends on understanding the balance that we need between the natural environment and the built environment. That will require, each day in our jobs as builders, balancing a range of factors - including energy, durability, indoor air quality, and the sustainability of resources - that determine the quality of a new home. In this introductory course, Green Builder founder, Ron Jones, lays the groundwork for understanding the range of factors involved, and orients us to how to begin thinking about our new tasks.

Energy Basics

Improving the energy efficiency of a home should be the very first strategy a Green Builder considers. Energy performance takes precedence because it's not just a one time event. The energy performance of a home represents an ongoing consumption of resources and a continuing source of carbon emissions. So every step towards increasing energy efficiency now helps preserve resources and limit emissions well into the future.

Energy-Efficient Homes

In many ways the green building movement is not new. Many of the most important principles have been advocated for years by builders focusing on energy-efficient homes. What is new is the simplification of many of the techniques, wider availability of proven products, and a greater understanding of the problems that can result if builders don't get the details right

Managing Moisture

Durability is essential to building green homes. If a building component rots out and has to be replaced, it certainly cannot be considered "green," no matter what it was made of. Similarly, if it deteriorates and requires early maintenance, an unnecessary outlay of resources will be involved. As Green Builders, one of our first goals to make sure that a home is protected from moisture damage.

You can't stop water from entering a home. But in this course you will learn how to effectively manage moisture in order to protect building assemblies from damage.

IAQ Fundamentals

A green home is a healthy home. Occupants must be certain that the air they breathe inside their homes will not be contaminated, and that they have plenty of fresh air without paying a penalty in energy performance. In this course, indoor air quality (IAQ) takes center stage, as Susan Raterman, a Certified Industrial Hygienist, provides the necessary background knowledge Green Builders need to understand the factors that affect indoor air quality, and summarizes the best practice methods for controlling mold growth in homes.

Green Building Materials

Selecting green building materials may be the most confusing part of building a green home. What exactly makes a building material green, and how do you sort out all the factors involved? In this course, Ron Jones gets us thinking about a range of issues related to different categories of materials, and points to a wealth of resources where we can begin the research required to make the kind of compromises that are necessary.

Water Efficiency: Water Efficiency

Less than 1% of the world's water is suitable for drinking, making it one the most precious resources on the planet - a fact that Americans should take to heart. Currently, we consume on average more than 100 gallons of water per person per day, accounting for the largest per capita water consumption rate in the world. (By comparison, Europeans average about 30 gallons per day; Ethiopians just 3.)

Water conservation is not just about preserving water as a resource, however. It also involves saving energy. Pumping, processing, and treating our water accounts for about 3% of the total U.S. energy bill. Fortunately, Green Builders can make a difference. In this course, Ron Jones focuses on some of the strategies builders can take to alleviate the consumption of water in the homes they build.