News and Insights

This year’s Earth Day (April 22) focuses on protecting species, including bees and insects. By making smart garden choices, you can protect them and improve your community and the planet at the same time. 

When you talk about high-performance home systems and energy audits, clients may give you a blank stare when you describe the tests that are involved. 

They may not understand the science. Some may be skeptical. Others may fear that home upgrades will be too costly.

Consumers are getting more knowledgeable about healthy home projects and frequently start the conversation about them when talking with contractors, according to Healthy Home Remodeling: Consumer Trends and Contractor Preparedness, a research brief by the joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 

As more green, high-performance, and energy efficiency certifications, labels, and scoring mechanisms have come on line, it’s gotten more challenging for real estate practitioners to locate and track such information and ensure that all that high-performance data get into their MLS listings. 

These were some of the issues that Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP), Lexington, Mass., considered when it started developing the Home Energy Labeling Information eXchange (HELIX).