Useful Links

LiveOakBank-3 (1)The Lower Cape Fear Stewardship Development Coalition encourages everyone to make a difference in the development and conservation of local communities. Visit these national and local resources to help educate yourself on how you can make a difference.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

North Carolina HealthyBuilt Homes Program
The NC HealthyBuilt Homes Program provides a certificate for homes meeting “green home guidelines” built by residential builders who practice sustainable, high performance building strategies making the home a comfortable, healthy and affordable place that reduces energy and water usage, promotes renewable energy use and helps protect the land where the home is built.

ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

Low Impact Development Center
The Low Impact Development Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Low Impact Development technology. Low Impact Development is a new, comprehensive land planning and engineering design approach with a goal of maintaining and enhancing the pre-development hydrologic regime of urban and developing watersheds.

NCSU Biological & Agricultural Engineering
Stormwater Research & Publications
The BAE Stormwater Engineering Group is a team consisting of tenure and non-tenure track faculty, graduate students, part-time associates, and off-campus Extension Faculty. Our mission is to “learn and teach” stormwater management and cover the three main aspects of a land-grant university: (1) applied research, (2) extension and engagement, and (3) on- and off-campus teaching.

Water Use it Wisely
There are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you. Visit this interactive website and test your own conservation practices by taking the Home Water Audit.

North Carolina Solar Center
Created in 1988, the North Carolina Solar Center serves as a clearinghouse for solar and other renewable energy programs, information, research, technical assistance, and training for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. Through its programs and services, the Solar Center seeks to stabilize energy costs for consumers, stimulate local economies, reduce dependence on foreign fuels, and mitigate the environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels.

Green Mortgages — Energy Efficient Mortgage Guide
What’s a “Green Mortgage”? It is a term that many, even the most environmentally focused of us, have not heard before. And it’s not what you might think. It is not a marketing or public relations effort. It is a program backed by private and government mortgage programs designed to help you make your home more energy efficient.

EPA Office of Strategic Environmental Management