An estimated 1.5 to 2 billion new homes will be needed by the end of the century, writes Jared Green in the introduction to his new book, Good Energy. Shouldn’t those homes be healthier, more affordable and more beautiful than what came before? According to Green, they can be — at not much additional cost.

In this slideshow of images from Good Energy, a book of best practices for integrating renewable energy into our built environment, Next City has chosen a small selection of homes (and one school) from around the world that use less energy than they create. We hope these images inspire architects and designers to think bigger and greener.

Good Energy, by Jared Green, is published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Click here to view the slideshow.

Editor’s note: We’ve corrected this slideshow and intro to reflect that it is two billion homes needed by the end of the century.