About NESEA's Green Buildings Open House Tour

Make your plans now to join us on October 2nd for the annual Green Buildings Open House (GBOH). NESEA's Green Buildings Open House is the largest sustainable energy event in the Northeastern US, from Maine to Pennsylvania. It operates in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Society's (ASES) National Solar Tour and helps to kick off National Energy Awareness Month.

For the past 14 years, the Green Buildings Open House program has inspired thousands of individuals to learn about and implement energy efficient and renewable energy solutions in their homes. The goal of the GBOH event is to enable participants to see, firsthand, energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements in their communities and motivate them to adopt similar solutions for their own homes. At host sites, participants are able to talk with home and business owners, ask questions, and see how their renewable energy technologies actually work. GBOH also connects building owners and managers with professionals who can provide them with sustainable energy services or energy efficiency retrofits.

In 2009, more than 15,000 people toured over 500 Green Buildings Open House host sites throughout the Northeast, including homes, businesses, and public buildings. 71 local volunteer organizers, including representatives from NESEA chapters, local and regional energy organizations, and municipal energy committees collaborated with NESEA to promote this event in local media and through organizations in their area. NESEA builds a database of host sites that can be searched by energy efficiency and renewable energy building features and by geographic area, allowing visitors to choose what interests them.

As host sites register, detailed information and photos of the buildings' innovative energy features are posted, providing an ongoing educational tool. A study by the American Solar Energy Society found that participation in this program increased the likelihood that attendees would invest in energy efficiency and/or clean energy measures by 24%, from 54% to 78%, matching our goal of bringing these measures into everyday use and thereby increasing our region's adoption of clean energy and energy efficiency.