The 1,600-square-foot, 70-year-old ranch house is in the Pierson Place Historic District near the city’s new light-rail line. It is the first in a series of homes being renovated by Green Street Development, a Phoenix home building company specializing in environmentally sensitive design and construction. All are planned to meet requirements of the standard.

Green Street's Philip Beere and Don Odegard were joined by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 13 at the newly remodeled home. Beere also held an open house and educational session for area remodelers considering green certification.

Beere said he is also using the standard as the basis for the remodeling portion of a statewide affordable housing program being developed by Arizona State University.

“This project is an excellent example of what home builders and remodelers can accomplish with the National Green Building Standard,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a builder and developer in Tulsa, Okla.

The standard is the American National Standards Institute-approved certification protocol for green residential construction and one of two rating systems in NAHBGreen used by the NAHB Research Center for its National Green Building Certification.

“If we are going to make significant inroads into limiting our water and energy use, we need to retrofit and renovate the more than 120 million homes that use more of these precious resources than they could,” Robson said. “I’m proud of all the services we offer through NAHBGreen, particularly the third-party certification of homes using the standard.”

All National Green Building Standard-certified new and remodeled homes must meet benchmarks in energy, water and resource efficiency and indoor environmental quality and provide operations and maintenance information for their homeowners.

“Making changes in energy efficiency, water efficiency, and indoor air quality are huge steps in reducing the environmental footprint of any older home.  Using the standard’s Green Remodel Path is the streamlined way to achieve huge environmental benefits for the nation’s aging homes,” Robson added.

In remodeling the home, Green Street reduced the Home Energy Rating -- set at 100 for today’s new homes -- from 178 to 68, reducing the home's carbon footprint by more than 60 percent and water use by 65 percent.

The home also features new Energy Star-rated windows and appliances, water-efficient fixtures, upgraded heating, air conditioning and insulation systems, and native landscaping for even more water savings.

The home was inspected by NAHB Research Center-accredited verifier Mick Dalrymple of a.k.a Green Services in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“The standard and the third-party certification process will provide the homeowner with assurance that this project has been inspected and verified to be authentically green,” said NAHB Research Center President Michael Luzier. “I commend Green Street for going the extra mile for the customer to seek the highest level of ‘greenness’ available in residential remodeling.”

“The Emerald certification symbolizes our company mission of creating walkable neighborhoods, preserving existing structures and sustainable development,” Beere said.

Two other remodeling projects are expected to be certified to the standard by next week, Beere said. Green Street hopes to complete between 20 and 30 homes in all.

The home brings the total number of Emerald projects to four, including single-family homes in Connecticut, Michigan and Pennsylvania.