Harvard HouseZero
The Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities has retrofitted its headquarters, a pre-1940s house in Cambridge, MA, into an ultra-efficient, healthy, positive energy structure.Harvard HouseZero
The design of HouseZero has been driven by radically ambitious performance targets from the outset, including nearly zero energy for heating and cooling, zero electric lighting during the day, operating with 100 percent natural ventilation, and producing zero carbon emissions.
Press
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September 23
The Inequality of Heat -
September 21
HouseZero: A Zero Energy Retrofit -
August 3
Cambridge enacts ambitious building emissions reduction standards
Events
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Thursday, Nov. 2 | Cambridge, MA
Paving the Way for Circular Architecture -
Thursday, Oct. 12 | Cambridge, MA
2023 MIT Global Change Outlook: Charting the Earth’s Future for Energy, Managed Resources, Climate, and Policy Prospects -
Friday, Apr. 21 | Cambridge, MA
Solar Gate: Bioinspired and Biobased 4D-printing for Weather-responsive Smart Shading
Latest News
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September 7
Core research faculty from the CGBC win Salata Institute grants for projects confronting climate change -
Publication by CGBC researchers is recognized with “Best Paper Award of Energy and Buildings published in the period from 2018 to 2022” -
June 6
Publication by CGBC researchers selected as one of “Best of 2022” in Advanced Materials Technologies
STORIES

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@HARVARDCGBC
- Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities spotlights sampling of faculty findings during Climate Action Week: https://t.co/omveXkma4P 11:42:23 AM May 22, 2023
- Inside HouseZero™, a team of researchers are conducting a number of experiments related to improved building design… https://t.co/J2aF4d0E1O 11:11:09 AM May 17, 2023
- Introducing...STORIES! Learn more about members of our Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (CGBC) team an… https://t.co/VsO47wxoBa 01:36:30 PM May 05, 2023
- Great to have Prof Hanif Kara at the Center to present "Sustainable Practice Concerns" and share firsthand experien… https://t.co/sm07phWLKV 02:37:28 PM April 28, 2022
- "Buildings are one of the most cost-effective opportunities to abate carbon." Assoc Prof Holly Samuelson gives a ke… https://t.co/pt4zWOlHzR 01:54:21 PM April 27, 2022
- PI Asst Prof Pablo Pérez-Ramos presents research that analyzed agricultural landscapes in arid regions to produce a… https://t.co/jXp9M01Vn6 05:10:03 PM April 20, 2022
- PI Asst Prof Carole Voulgaris shares research on evaluation of existing applications & methods for estimating site-… https://t.co/5lonhVkDVI 04:57:40 PM April 20, 2022