#1 - Transportation
Transportation - or how we get around - is the biggest impact a consumer has on the environment (in the United States). See these links for more information or for products and services available to you today!

#2 - Food Production
Although the focus of this site is energy, the management believes in a focus on "The Big Picture," so this is important information to pass along. Also, it so happens food production consumes a lot of energy, especially during transportation - so buy locally! Eat organically grown foods, minimizing your consumption of meat (pork, beef, and poultry - in order of decreasing environmental impact). For more information go here - Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Product Industry links

#3 - Buildings
Our homes heating, cooling, and water heating have the 3rd biggest impact, followed by household appliances/lighting at #4, home construction at #5, and household water and sewage at #6. The links below, as well as others located throughout this site, will help you learn how to make your buildings - and your life - contribute to a more sustainable future.

* Go here for the basis behind these recommendations

Compare your Ecological Footprint, the amount of hectares or acres required to support your lifestyle, to the worldwide biologically productive space available per person (2.2 hectares or 5.4 acres):

Calculate Your Ecological Footprint
13 Simple Questions Will Assess Your Use of Nature

Alternative Energy Institute, Inc.
The Alternative Energy Institute, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to a sustainable energy future. They answer vital questions and promote solutions. Their focus is to help ensure a smooth transition from dependence on dangerous and polluting forms of energy to a more vital, healthier world. Learn about the impacts of the use of conventional fuels and the environmental and political prices we all pay. We will survey traditional renewable energy from solar to hydroelectic power. We will introduce you to the researchers working on new forms of energy, and you will learn the hazards and joys of this work.

Best Practices For Human Settlements
A searchable database with proven solutions to common problems facing the worlds cities today.

A Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing
From Global Green, USA.

Building Green dot-com
An especially comprehensive and informative site!

Building that costs Earth less
An article from the Christian Science Monitor about the growing use of eco-friendly materials in the remodeling and building of homes.

Centre for Alternative Technology
Catalogs - Sustainable Products

Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development: Toolkit
The Sustainable Building Technical Manual: Green Building Design, Construction, and Operations is one of the most comprehensive publications now available to help architects, developers, building owners, government officials, and others implement sustainable development practices. It contains more than 300 pages of practical, step-by-step advice on sustainable buildings written by some of the foremost experts in the field.

Citizens for Rideable Communities NEW (08/17/05)
We support the Green Transportation Hierarchy for governmental priorities and planning. Protecting the Environment, Reducing Dependency on Foreign Oil and Insuring Homeland Security all at the same time!

C & D Waste Web
A repository of information for Canadian construction and demolition waste management and 3Rs options (reduce, re-use and recycle). The site consists of case studies, reference documents, training materials, and a searchable database of construction and demolition businesses.

Common Purpose - Lots Of Links !
Bringing People Together To Protect Our Environment By Increasing The Use of Biomass, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, And Energy Efficiency.

Compost Guide - Lots Of Information & Products too !
A complete quide to composting.

Composting
All about home composting.

The Consumer's Guide To Effective Environmental Choices
Finally, a study-turned-guide that gives the facts on our individual (and cumulative) impact on the environment and - most important - what to do about it!

CREST: Sustainable Living Information - Lots Of Links !
The Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology; Project of the Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation. Offices in Washington D.C. and San Francisco, CA, USA.

Department Of Energy (DOE)

Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development

Clean Cities

Green Power Network

Million Solar Roofs Initiative

State Energy Alternatives

Zero Energy Buildings Program

Design Earth Synergy
The Sustainble Communities Vision Center Network Directory

Do It Yourself Solar Projects
James Dully.

Earthshots: satellite images of environmental change

Earth Times Magazine

Eco-Quantum - Calculate The Environmental Impact Of Building Alternatives !
Eco-Quantum is a computer program to assess the environmental burden of a complete building on the basis of LCA (Life Cycle Analysis). This includes the impact of energy use, maintenance,
differences in durability of building components and product reuse and renovation. Architects can use the computer program (Windows driven) to assess in a quick, simple and objective way the total environmental burden (from cradle to grave) and improve their building design. Different alternatives of building designs can be compared easily.

Energy & The Environment - Lots Of Links !
This link is to a "Physics of Energy and The Environment" course at Oregon State University, Oregon, USA. It has a variety of links related to energy & the environment.

Energy Solutions - for Cities and Counties!
Articles on planning and sustainability issues; for a variety of other articles, go here. The links cover both the energy efficiency and the environmental aspects of public buildings, public utilities, transportation, water systems, and economic development.

Envirolink - Community, Ecology & Connection

Environmental Resource Guide
The American Institute of Architects, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has developed the Environmental Resource Guide, a comprehensive reference on the environmental performance of building materials.

GAIA
A global eco-village network.

Global Green - A Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing
Developer Guidlines for Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Communities.

The Green Building Advisor
The Green Building Advisor is a software program designed to help architects and other building professionals design occupant-friendly and environmentally-friendly buildings.

Green Concepts
An organization dedicated to training, education, remodeling, and designing living structures in the residential construction market.

Global Environmental Options for Sustainable Design, Communities and Parks
Global Environmental Options is a non-profit organization which focuses on creating sustainable buildings, communities, and national parks through a unique combination of global electronic resources and local hands-on initiatives. GEO seeks to restore a balance between the natural and human environments through a whole systems approach to design, planning and education. This site also has links to other websites pertaining to sustainable development.

GreenHOME
A coalition of local design professionals and environmental organizations are researching, designing, and building an affordable, energy and resource efficient house in partnership with DC Habitat for Humanity.

Institute For Deep Ecology

Intentional Communities
Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and other related projects and dreams. This Web site serves the growing communities movement, providing important information and access to crucial resources for seekers of community, existing and forming communities, and other friends of community.

OIKOS- Green Building Source

PLACE³S
The Energy Yardstick: PLACE3S is a method for creating more sustainable communities. PLACE3S, an acronym for PLAnning for Community Energy, Economic and Environmental Sustainability, is an innovative planning method that fully integrates focused public participation, community development and design, and computer-assisted quantification tools (GIS) to help communities produce plans that retain dollars in the local economy, save energy, attract jobs and development, reduce pollution and traffic congestion and conserve open space. PLACE3S creates an information base that functions as a common yardstick, empowering a community to compare components of each plan "apples-to-apples," make informed trade-offs, and arrive at a consensus Smart Growth plan. This plan will be broadly supported, economically and environmentally realistic, make investment sense, and encourage Smart Growth benefits to be tracked and reported annually.

Project Nature Connect - Wellness for person, planet and spirit
Presented by the Institute Of Global Education in association with the United Nations Department of Public Information.

Quality Homes
Techniques and technologies--a "house-as-a-system" approach--help builders construct affordable, comfortable and energy efficient homes. Available on line are Protocols for Energy Efficient Residential Building Envelopes (specifications and techniques for the installation of insulation, windows, mechanical ventilation, and caulking and sealing) and Procedures for HVAC System Design and Installation.

Renewables.Com
Solar Design and Renewable Energy Products. By Steve Heckeroth, Albion, CA, USA

Renewable Northwest Project
This broad coalition of public-interest organizations and energy companies promotes renewable energy development in the northwestern region of the United States. The site covers the basics of wind, solar, and geothermal energy, as well as their potential for use, cost, economic and environmental impact, and any available incentive programs. Northwestern renewable energy news and statistics are also included.

Sacramento Cool Community Program
The Sacramento Cool Community Program is a program of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, and a pilot city in the US Environmental Protection Agency's Heat Island Reduction Initiative. SCCP works to cool Sacramento's heat island and reduce energy use & smog by promoting three strategies: trees and vegetation, cool roofing and cool pavements.

Sacred Earth Network

Smart Development Serves Economy, Community & Environment

Solar Energy International - Links To Related Sites

Sun Utility Network
"Environmentally Sustainable Solutions for Our Global Village"

Sustainability Project - Inviting Debate
There are moves afoot to improve our measure of well-being so that it reflects social and environmental conditions. It would acknowledge losses and account for voluntary contributions to well-being. The "7th Generation Bill" process aims to make people and their enterprises responsible for their impacts on present and future generations. It would include a legal framework requiring that social and environmental costs be included in prices.

Sustainable Buildings Sourcebook

Sustainable Business dot-com
"The center for environment and business on the web"

Sustainable Design, Building + Development Directory; San Franciso Bay Area
Listing of organizations, businesses and professionals in the field of sustainable design, building and development, available from Interior Concerns Environmental Resources, Inc., P.O. Box 2386, Mill Valley, CA 94942, (415) 389-8049.

Sustainable Economics; "The Natural Wealth Of Nations, a book by David Roodman, Senior Researcher for the WorldWatch Institute.

Sustainable Economics 0nline Seminar - Participant Proceedings;
Based on the book "The Natural Wealth Of Nations, by David Roodman, Senior Researcher for the WorldWatch Institute.

Sustainable Economics 0nline Seminars;
Hosted by Communications for a Sustainable Future on the Colorado State University ".edu".

Sustainable Energy and Development Online

Sustainable Minnesota
Minnesotans for An Energy-Efficient Economy (ME3) is a coalition working to improve the quality of life, the environment and the economy of Minnesota by promoting energy efficiency and the sound use of renewable energy.

Sustainable Products Database
A database of sustainable product and service examples, hundreds of contacts in 55 countries. A downloadable version of their magazine ëWay Beyondí, reports and a Sustainable Development Agenda.

Sustainable Sources Environmental Website
Sustainable Sources provides resources that offer practical options to the conventional methods of building, community, travel, and more.

Termite Control
This is a very important issue for buildings with slab floors on earth, where the question of how to address termites always comes up. TERMI-MESH, the product featured on this site, may have the ultimate, non-toxic, environmentally compatible solution.....

Tibetech
A new organization with plans to assist Tibetan refugees in generating self-sustainable communities, by teaching them to create microenterprises and to access the internet's wealth of educational opportunities.  They will also provide instruction to members of Tibetan communities in the creation of cyber archives to preserve cultural documents. In addition, Tibetech will teach community members to utilize the ever-growing number of internet telemedicine databases. Tibetech.org will create an internet network and resource base whose goal will be to insure and assist in the linking of all Tibetan refugee communities.

Toward Sustainable Communities
A nice collection of pages related to sustainable communities. By Steve Heckeroth, Albion, CA, USA

Turtle Island Institute
A "virtual university" designed to develop interactive computer educational programs in sustainable development directed toward indigenous people in the Americas (Canada, U.S., Mexico, Central and South America, including the Caribbean and Costa Rica).

Virtual Library: Sustainable Development

Water Power Information

Water Pumping Information

The World Transformation web space

The U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council is the building industry's only balanced nonprofit consensus coalition, promoting the understanding, development, and accelerated implementation of "Green Building" policies, programs, technologies, standards and design practices.

Used Building Materials Association
The UBMA is a non-profit, membership based organization that represents companies and organizations involved in the acquisition and/or redistribution of used building materials. This site contains membership information, links to other sites and information on excess used building materials.