The definition of Green Building is the practice of designing, planning, and constructing buildings where the priority and emphasis is placed on the current and future environmental impact of the building.

Here are the Key Elements of a Green Building:

• Energy efficient- a generally tight house with energy efficient use of water, energy efficient appliances, windows, Cooling and Heating units and HVAC and ventilation systems.

• Recycled content used in the building process

• Uses environmentally sustainable materials

• Uses the building lot or site in a sustainable manner

• Use of locally manufactured goods

• Indoor environmental air quality

The bottom line is that the main focus of building a Green Home ("sustainable building", "environmental building", "green home building" or just simply "green") is the environment. 

The Real Estate Services Team has partnered with a number of organizations that form a team of Energy and Building Specialists that can help homeowners and homebuilders retrofit and build high performance homes that are more energy efficient, healthy, comfortable, durable and environmentally responsible.

This team includes certified Home Energy Raters which utilize new technologies, state-of-the-art diagnostic testing and emerging programs such as Energy Star and EarthCraft House to ensure excellent home performance. In addition our team includes certified Green Building Companies that offer green home design, certification and construction management through a Build-It-Green program.