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People across the country are looking for ways to make homes and buildings more energy efficient and save money on their energy bill. The same goes for many local governments.

What is an efficient building without efficient appliances? That’s the question students must face as part of the Energy Department’s Max Tech and Beyond competition.

A new housing development on the UC Davis campus is planning to bring a new source of renewable energy to its community.

Through the Energy Department's EECBG program, San Antonio's City Lights initiative is upgrading lighting in businesses across the city through a free energy assessment and turnkey installation of energy efficiency lighting. The program, funded by the Recovery Act, provides no-interest loans to customers to spread repayment over time and creates a revolving loan fund for the program to live on in perpetuity.

Thanks to financing from the Pennsylvania Campus Energy Efficiency Fund, Drexel University’s Philadelphia campus is installing new building controls and advanced heating and cooling systems in six buildings, a move that is expected to significantly reduce energy costs.

A haunted library in Alabama gets an energy-efficient makeover -- but the ghosts decided to stick around anyway. Read more about the EECBG recipient and its history here.

“Really anyone who likes science or math, we’ve probably got a job for you,” said Justin Johnson, Senior Director of Engineering at Oncor, one of the country’s largest transmission and distribution utilities based in Dallas, Texas. Find out more about the exciting career opportunities smart grid technology is offering.

For this year’s Solar Decathlon, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is returning to the National Mall with the Re_home, which offers a more sustainable housing solution for communities following a natural disaster.

It’s a tale of two universities with a vision for one historic city. Students from both Hampton and Old Dominion universities have joined forces to compete in the upcoming Energy Department Solar Decathlon with their entry, called Unit 6 Unplugged. At Tidewater Virginia, the students will unveil their vision for the future -- an energy-efficient house that captures the “Arts and Crafts” design style of homes dotted throughout historic Norfolk, Virginia.

Team Massachusetts is bringing a unique perspective to the Solar Decathlon this fall. You might say it is a fourth dimension because of the team’s newly constructed 4D Home. But it could also be argued that it is because the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and University of Massachusetts Lowell are collaborating for the team’s first entry into the biannual competition, and they’re both public institutions.

Read about Team Florida's 2011 Solar Decathlon house -- a design approach that combines efficiency and ingenuity to build a zero-energy home for the hot humid central Florida climate.

Roland Risser breaks down the four offices in the Building Technologies Program.