A Traditional Green Home in the Neighborhood

Here's an example that shows when you integrate green elements early in the design process, a green home's look can fit into a typical neighborhood. And when you plan ahead, the costs of building green can be manageable.

February 28, 2007

This article first appeared in the PB March 2007 issue of Pro Builder.

When you integrate green elements early in the design process, a green home's look can fit into a typical neighborhood. And when you plan ahead, the costs of building green can be manageable. The National Homebuilder Mainstream GreenHome in Raleigh, N.C., will showcase products, systems and techniques that can be used for individual homes or large-scale developments.

Lutron Electronics and Cherokee Investment Partners teamed up to build the Mainstream GreenHome, the first home in the country to be built in a subdivision under the NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines. Only three homes to date have met these guidelines.

"Not only are we cleaning and greening hundreds of brownfield sites nationally," says Tom Darden, CEO of Cherokee, "we are exploring innovative ways to integrate more sustainable features into the horizontal and vertical construction of our sites."

Builders considered the environment in various aspects of the home by using edible or drought-tolerant plants for landscaping to incorporating rainwater catchment and reuse systems.

The GreenHome will use Lutron products, including RadioRA, a radio frequency lighting control system to control electric light, and Sivoia QED shades to control daylight. The RadioRA Chronos package uses an astronomical clock to automate lighting changes to save energy. For example, driveway lights can be programmed to turn on at sunset and turn off at 11 p.m.

The GreenHome is expected to be complete in early 2007. For more information, visit www.MainstreamGreenHome.com.

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