High-performance homebuilding is about more than energy efficiency. It is about creating homes that support human health, reduce environmental impact, and contribute to more resilient communities. During EEBA’s October 28, 2026, webinar, “Scaling Regenerative Design: Transforming Residential Practice with Living Future Programs,” Jaime Van Mourik, Vice President of Market Transformation at Living Future, explored how residential building professionals can put regenerative design into practice.
Living Future offers frameworks, certifications, and educational resources that help teams evaluate building performance, material health, carbon emissions, and equity. These tools can help builders move beyond reducing negative impacts toward creating more positive outcomes.
From Sustainable to Regenerative Design
Traditional sustainability often focuses on minimizing harm. Regenerative design takes a broader view, considering how buildings can contribute to healthier environments, communities, and occupant experiences.
For residential builders, this means looking beyond energy consumption to consider water use, construction materials, indoor health, equity, and a home's relationship with its surroundings.
Living Future's programs provide practical frameworks for teams at different stages of their sustainability journey. Even without pursuing certification, builders can use these principles to establish goals and identify opportunities for improvement.
Explore Living Future's programs to find an approach that aligns with your project.
Frameworks for Better Homes
The Living Building Challenge (LBC) is a regenerative design framework organized around seven Petals: Place, Water, Energy, Health and Happiness, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.
Together, these areas encourage teams to consider how buildings affect the environment, occupants, and surrounding communities. The Challenge emphasizes measured performance, helping teams move beyond design intentions toward demonstrated results.
Living Future also offers complementary certifications focused on energy and carbon:
- Zero Carbon Certification addresses both operational and embodied carbon.
- Zero Energy Certification requires 100% of a project's energy needs to come from on-site renewables, with no on-site combustion.
These programs give project teams ways to establish measurable goals and evaluate building performance.
Learn more about the Living Building Challenge, Zero Carbon, and Zero Energy programs.
Healthier Materials and Stronger Communities
Material choices affect occupant health and the environmental impact of construction. Living Future's Declare program helps improve transparency through product ingredient disclosures and screening against the Red List, which identifies chemicals of concern.
The Living Product Challenge encourages regenerative product design, while the JUST program helps organizations share information about their social equity practices.
Regenerative thinking also extends beyond individual buildings. The Stanley Center for Peace and Security in Muscatine, Iowa, renovated a former library. The project also collaborated with a neighboring affordable housing development to explore expanding renewable energy benefits through “scale jumping.”
The project demonstrates how renovation, collaboration, and shared resources can support broader community goals.
Explore Declare, the JUST program, and the Stanley Center documentary.
How Builders Can Get Started
Regenerative design does not require every project to pursue the same certification. Teams can start by identifying priorities, learning from existing projects, and seeking guidance early.
Build your knowledge. Living Future Accreditation (LFA) offers a 20-hour educational program with no continuing education unit requirement. Explore the LFA course and the Living Building Challenge Certification and Project Leadership course series.
Learn from real projects. Living Future's case studies demonstrate how teams approach regenerative design in practice. Explore residential examples such as Craven Gap Residence, Fallgren Naturally Healthy Home, Desert Rain, and the Minneapolis Net Zero Victorian. Browse the full case study library for more inspiration.
Prepare for certification. Early guidance can help teams understand requirements and identify potential challenges. Living Future provides building certification support articles, free 30-minute support calls, and complimentary feasibility tools for eligible certification pathways.
Connect with the community. Individuals can join the Living Future Community to access its directory and discussion boards. Organizations can explore membership opportunities. Professionals can also follow the Trimtab blog and subscribe to the Living Future newsletter.
For project guidance or help developing a company strategy, contact Jaime Van Mourik at jaime.vanmourik@living-future.org.
Advancing High-Performance Homebuilding
Regenerative design gives residential building professionals a way to build on the progress of high-performance construction. By considering energy, carbon, material health, occupant well-being, and community impact together, teams can work toward homes that do more than meet minimum requirements.
Living Future's programs offer a starting point, whether a team is setting its first goals or preparing for certification.
The opportunity is to ask a bigger question: How can the homes we build contribute to a healthier, more resilient future?
Explore Living Future's programs and resources to take the next steps.
Watch the full webinar here: https://eeba.talentlms.com/plus/courses/shared/start/SSBRKMFP