Building Green

The energy crisis of the 70’s, punctuated by the gasoline shortage and long lines at filling stations, raised a national awareness of the impact of fuel consumption and the use of precious resources. In 1976, in the midst of this heightened awareness, we started our building business and named it Energy Conserving Homes hoping to be a small part of the solution, rather than contributing to the problem. Building energy and resource efficient homes as a priority made sense to us then, as it does now. Our passion for building the very best home possible has never waned through the years. 

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Building science has evolved exponentially since the 70’s and we’ve learned how to build better more sustainable and efficient houses by adhering to the teachings offered by the Energy and Environmental Building Association, the U.S. Department of Energy, Earth Craft House ™Training, the National Green Building Standard ™training, and others. 

In the mid to late 1990’s local and regional green building programs emerged throughout the United States focused on better energy efficiency and more environmentally sustainable practices. Many of these programs, including Earth Craft House ™, offered a 3rd party certification process in order to verify that the house met the standards of green building.

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To address the need for a nationally recognizable green building standard the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders), in partnership with the International Code Council and other industry players, developed the National Green Building Standard ™. The 2008 outcome of this collaboration is the first nationally recognized green building rating system to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This all-encompassing building program offers 4 performance levels of certification: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Emerald.