Riding the wave of the future: Building GreenIt seems today there is a lot of talk in the home building sector on building a "green" home. "Green Housing" is a healthy high performance home that costs less to opertate and has fewer environmental impacts. Many consumers are asking for them and realtor Tita Arnld of Arnold Real Estate says, "It is a whole new world for us. It's coming to the forefront now." The Home Builders Association of Kentucky with its affiliates in Lexington, Louisville and Northern Kentucky have worked for more than a year with both the State Department of Energy and the University of Kentucky to create a green building rating system in the Commonwealth. Patterned after the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, it is the accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green building. On the eve of Earth Day, Governor Steve Beshear rolled out the Green Build Kentucky program. Greg Long of Lexington Home Builder's Association said, "We have a program that builders and customers can look to as a reference point, and without a rating system anyone can say they had a green built home. Under the green building rating system in Kentucky the home must meet certain requirements from seven different sections in order to have a verified green home. These seven categories include: - Resource efficiency
- Energy efficiency
- Water efficiency
- Indoor environmental quality
- Operation, maintenance, and homeowner education
- Global impact
An an example, the resource-efficiency category covers issues such as reducing the quantity of materials and waste; enhancing durability and reducing maintenance; reusing materials; using materials with recycled content; recycling waste materials during construction; using renewable materials; using resource-efficient materials; and innovative options. To participate in the program, builders and their subcontractors must attend a class explaining how the program works and how to document their homes. This wave of green building is really catching on amongst the realtor community as well. The Lexington Bluegrass Association of realtors began offering a class to educate agents about "green housing" and has considered expanding their multiple listing service to include a properties "green" features. Gatewood Arnold a Lexington builder who is currently building "green housing" tells clients seeking a greener home that that they may find that these properties are slightly more expensive, however on the other hand, a home with better insulation and more energy-efficient systems, appliances and fixtures can considerably reduce their heating and cooling costs for years to come. At the end of the day it will be interesting to see if the cost savings acutalized by being a "green home" can offset the cost of the build. Stay tuned because I will find out. For more infomation please click on the following links: 
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