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According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, more than half of small businesses within the United States are home-based. In addition, the practice of telecommuting is on the rise, even within traditional corporations. The 2010 American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that more than 22 million Americans now work from home for at least part of the day, and industry experts are predicting that this statistic will increase significantly within the next five years. With more and more Americans utilizing space within the home for business purposes, it’s no surprise that the home office is quickly becoming an area of focus for interior designers and DIY'ers.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC's) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is the nation’s leading standards-based green building program. In 2009 the USGBC released its most recent version of the rating system and embarked upon its latest stage of development.

In recent years, CSI, or crime scene investigation, has become an increasingly popular term thanks to television. However, CSI takes place every day in the real world, in ways that you may not have previously considered. Forensic engineers assess damage to properties, determine the cause(s), and offer possible remediation. Situations in which structural CSI is required can include water infiltrating a structure; storms, fires, or explosions damaging a building; or a product defect or a material deficiency occurring.

If you have ever hunted for a new home, you have probably done a drive-by. Most potential buyers prefer to view the outside of a home before they schedule an inside viewing.

The earthquake in Haiti that hit on January 12, now seven months ago, left more than 230,000 people dead with 1.3 million homeless and 600,000 internally displaced. Undaunted not only by the immediate devastation of the quake but also by the political and governmental fragility that makes reconstruction difficult, Clemson School of Architecture Associate Professor Doug Hecker and Assistant Professor Martha Skinner continue to work to provide housing for Haitians long after they began an immediate post-quake creative search for emergency shelter for the displaced and homeless in Haiti. Their efforts resulted in the successful use of shipping containers as emergency housing -- the SEED_Haiti project.

Careful attention to detail leads to a series of awards for Andre Kikoski Architect’s restaurant in the Guggenheim Museum.

As the most utilized and action-packed room in the home, the kitchen has long been a focus of forward-thinking product engineers and manufacturers. The latest appliance innovations on the market include induction cooktops that can boil water in a mere minute, LED-lit refrigerators with specialized temperature bins, and dishwashers that can silently steam clean an entire dinner party’s worth of dishes.

Solar-hydrogen systems can turn water into cheap storable energy.

HOK Architects has partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council to rebuild a Haitian orphanage. As early adopters of biomimicry principles, HOK Architects took inspiration from the native Kapok tree for the building’s design.

The lives of thousands of children were devastated by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, but thanks to a building initiative, many of these children will soon have a new place to call home.

Uneven terrain and climate extremes are two of the biggest challenges homeowners face when attempting to create beautiful, low-maintenance, environmentally conscious residential landscapes. Having a realistic expectation of cost and time requirements, as well as a thorough knowledge of native plants, soil composition, rainfall expectancy, irrigation systems, and local permitting regulations can dramatically impact the long-term success of an outdoor project.

The performance of green buildings is a very hot topic in both the construction and real estate industries. As owners demand lower operating expenses, more and more new construction and existing building retrofits are being designed to a very high standard. However, as owners are finding out, those high design standards create only the opportunity for a green building. It’s what is done with that opportunity that defines both a building’s operations and the occupants inside it.

Find out, step-by-step, how to make a firepit for your backyard or patio by using a salvaged metal stove. To see Rachael in action, watch her {Re}habitat video series on adaptive reuse and upcycling.

It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to create a unique place to entertain in your backyard. A salvaged woodburning stove can become a stylish outdoor firepit in a few hours, with a few simple tools, for a couple bucks. Join Rachael Ranney as she demonstrates how she took a rusty stove and turned it into the pride of her garden.