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Green Home Builders Celebrate Earth Day
Builder and remodeler members from the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association and the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association joined NAHB on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the fifth annual National Sustainable Design Expo on April 18-20.
Held in conjunction with the annual Earth Day festivities in the nation’s capital, the design expo highlights alternative energy sources, water efficiency and other aspects of sustainable construction — presenting a great opportunity for Washington metro area builders to talk about green building and remodeling work.
All the HBA volunteers have obtained the Certified Green Professional designation and several of them are also verifiers for the NAHB National Green Building Program. They talked to home buyers and home owners about the benefits of sustainable construction and passed out NAHBGreen brochures and flyers.
Remodeler Eric Souder of Butler Brothers in Clifton, Va., said the expo was an opportunity to put a slightly different slant on the usual green remodeling home show appearance. “We weren’t really there to sell, we were there to educate,” he said. “It was a way to give back and to educate consumers about how to make wise decisions when they go green.”
Delaware green verifier Howard Fortunato talked about the expo on his blog. “We had a number of interested people coming up to inquire about green building and we explained it all. They were impressed that the home building industry has taken the intiative to build green and had a program to provide independent verification of the green certification. An interesting, but long day.”
Other HBAs across the country also are using Earth Day as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on their green builders and remodelers.
The Porter County Builders Association in Indiana is staffing a booth at an Earth Day event sponsored by the county solid waste district, which last year attracted 4,000 people.
Not only does this help improve relations with local and county officials, “this is a great way to reach the general public about green building,” said John Kremke II, CGB, CGP of Accent Homes, Inc., chair of the HBA’s green building committee. “The goal is to promote NAHBGreen, our CGPs and the PCBA's green efforts. This is educational,” he said.
William D.Rogove, vice president for construction at the Windsor Companies in Freehold, N.J., used NAHB green building resources for a presentation at a local elementary school on water conservation and native landscaping.
“If we can educate these youngsters through a builder’s view point, than we have educated future allies," Rogove said.
He is returning next week to help the students with a school planting project.
The Capital Region Builders Association, the NAHBGreen affiliate in Louisiana’s capital city, is helping to green Baton Rouge this Earth Day by participating in the "Going Green in the Red Stick" exposition. Members are offering hands-on demonstrations on how to build a new home or remodel an old one to save money and energy.
For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.
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