| Pushing the Envelope for Residential Buildings
The residential building envelope industry includes builders, building product manufacturers, industry organizations, specialized design professionals, academics, researchers, code bodies, distributors, and contracting firms that contribute to the foundations, walls, and roofs of buildings. As a subset of the residential construction industry, the building envelope industry has been highly successful in the past decade, one of the longest periods of expansion in the past 50 years.1 Looking ahead, strong demand for housing and remodeling is expected to continue.
As we enter the new millennium, new trends, both social and technological, are affecting the building envelope industry. In a market driven by increased competition, how can the industry develop a building envelope that meets the demands of the consumer (lower cost, more adaptable, smarter, lower maintenance) while reducing the impact on the environment (energy, air, water, and waste)? This Building Envelope Technology Roadmap represents a year of collaboration by more than 100 leaders in the building envelope industry who were asked to envision the envelope of the future and the process for creating it. Its goal is to serve as a tool for further collaboration and a platform for communication by which public and private research, development, and deployment (RD&D) agendas can be aligned.
A NEW INITIATIVE
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs (BTS) is facilitating a new industry-led initiative to develop a series of technology roadmaps. The roadmaps identify shared visions, key goals, and strategies for different areas of the building and equipment industries.
The roadmapping initiative is a fundamental component of the BTS strategic plan and will help to align government resources with the industry's high-priority needs. This roadmap will guide cooperation among public and private researchers, building envelope industry members, and other State and Federal offices to help achieve the 2020 vision for the building envelope industry. |
