Builder’s single-family home in Oregon first in the West to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Read about his solution to having a really energy-efficient house.

Here is a house that’s being built with the "greenest" technology available, some of which may be getting its first practical application in Virginia. Find out what they’re doing to achieve energy efficiency.

Green rules! Everywhere you turn, "green" initiatives are sprouting. Texas Instruments' newest plant near Dallas was built using "green" building principles - big water pipes with fewer elbows, for example, which permit smaller, energy-saving pumps; electric-eye faucets that respond to hand motion; two stories instead of three. This saved 30 percent in construction expenses over past projects and is expected to cut energy costs by 20 percent and water usage by 35 percent. The Navy is planning a power plant in the Indian Ocean that will create electricity by combining warm surface waters and cold deep waters in a process called ocean thermal energy conversion.

Most of us have little choice but to grudgingly absorb higher energy costs. Then there are the plucky few who have decided to reduce their dependence on the electric company. Mark Marcoplos lives in a 3,100-square-foot house that runs on solar energy. Most days, the custom home builder's system generates all of his family's electricity, but he stays connected to Duke Energy for supplemental electricity. Larry Bohs and his family are served by a rural electric cooperative. But the university professor runs a solar power unit on his organic farm and nets a small profit selling electricity back to the co-op.

Panasonic recently announced the formation of the Panasonic Home and Environment Company, a newly independent group that focuses on "green technology" dedicated to helping improve the energy efficacy of homes and the health of homeowners in the United States. With the company's formation, Panasonic is also launching its Whisper series of ventilation fans and its flagship WhisperGreen fans that address the growing problem of "sick homes" and the need for whole-house ventilation. Panasonic is dedicated to meeting the needs of current building trends and developed the WhisperGreen ventilation product line in response to the new Green Building movement in the United States.

 It is a city in constant motion. The sidewalks of Midtown are ringing with white noise at noon. Traffic cops brazenly wade into the streets and direct the crush of taxis, buses, bicycles and pedestrians. Vendors hawk Broadway posters, Central Park pictures and famously salty pretzels. Tourists tilt upward to snap pictures of Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Trump Tower. Seventy blocks south, past the iconic Empire State and Chrysler buildings, the skyline crescendos again around the yawning gap where the World Trade Center towers once marked the top of the financial world. Lower Manhattan's tall buildings are a rhapsody on 20th-century American ambition and bravado, changing tastes and fortunes. Such buildings are at once permanent and fleeting, for men in hard hats stir at their foundations. Skeletal steel frames will soon tell a new century's story. It has been said that this city never sleeps, and perhaps New York never stops building upward, either. Not long ago, though, writers, politicians and sidewalk architecture critics, alike, wondered whether it would.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Model Green Home Building Guidelines are allowing more and more builders and remodelers to help their customers embrace green building concepts by providing a blueprint for successful design and construction.

Solar Night Industries (OTC Pink Sheets: SLND) today announced the launch of The Solar Builder's Supply Catalog offering Green Builders, Electrical Contractors, Architects, Solar Installers and Consumers a unique set of solar energy packages for the home and commercial use. The catalog is now available for free both on the web and in printed form from the company by visiting .

The top ten green building products of 2006 have been selected and profiled in a new print and online supplement produced by the editors of Sustainable Industries Journal. The top ten products were judged by a panel of green building experts and include innovative advances in lighting, coatings, plywood, paint, concrete and alternative energy. The 2006 Top Green Building Products supplement was mailed to all subscribers of the monthly business magazine Sustainable Industries Journal and is available for free online at .

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- As much of the country swelters through record-breaking heat, many home owners are getting anxious about the utility bills they'll need to pay this summer and are considering home improvement and remodeling projects to create a more energy- and resource-efficient home.

In 2007, two-thirds of U.S. homebuilders will "build green" in 15 percent of their projects, according to a June study by McGraw-Hill Construction. The study defines building green as going beyond accepted building codes to increase energy efficiency, conserve water, develop building lots in a way that preserves trees and uses the sun, incorporate earth-friendly materials, and reduce job-site waste.

It is the goal of "green" building to increase the efficiency of the use of materials, energy and other resources and to reduce the impact on the environment and the health of the occupants. This is accomplished for the entire life-cycle of the building through better site design, better system design, and better construction methods and materials. Green building is an essential component of the bigger overall concept of sustainability. Here are some tips in four aspects of green building:

Two new, green-certified buildings demonstrate the eco-seriousness of Sarasota County government. The North Sarasota Public Library and a forthcoming fire station on St. Armands Key will be state's highest-rated sustainable buildings, as certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, or LEED. The LEED system was developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) as a consensus-based, national standard for environmentally sustainable, high-performance buildings.Buildings are judged in the following categories: * Energy and atmosphere. Optimizing energy performance and choosing green power sources. * Water efficiency. Landscaping that needs little irrigation, innovative waste-water treatment and rainwater collection.

Builders keep green in mind. It's not for sale just yet, but homeowners anxious about rising electricity rates may want to take note: A builder has just put the finishing touches on a new four-bedroom house in the Baltimore, Md. area that should cost less than half as much to heat, cool and turn on the lights as do comparable traditional homes. At times, the electric meter on the "Greenland" home by Bob Ward Companies even runs backward -  earning the future owner a credit on his or her utility bill.

When Portland-area homeowners shop for a washing machine, they can easily find options that use relatively little k and water by searching for those certified by the federal government's Energy Star program. The program's Web site specifies brands and models that meet its requirements. But what if a homeowner wants to find a house that's energy-efficient?

Steve Servais heats his 1,500-square-foot home in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood for $50 a month - and he wants to help others do the same. Servais is one of three principals at Pragmatic Construction, a 1-year-old Milwaukee company that's got one residence built and several more under way. Servais and his partners - Juli Kaufmann and Nikolai Usack - are all Milwaukee natives in their 30s who say they've found the perfect pilot projects to show their company's ability to build energy-efficient, or green, structures: their own homes.

Eighty Percent of Survey Respondents Would Like Solar Systems Available on New Home Construction; Strong Majority of Americans Believe Solar Power is More Important Than Ever Eight out of ten Americans believe that homebuilders should offer solar power as an option for all new home construction, according to a recent Roper survey commissioned by Sharp Electronics Corporation. The survey was conducted in May among 1,004 adults to measure their perceptions of solar power. When it comes to the cost of solar energy, the survey showed that two-thirds of Americans are willing to pay a premium for homes that have solar systems installed, when told that solar homes have a proven higher resale value. One-half of those surveyed would spend up to ten percent more for a solar-equipped house, indicating that the cost of a solar system will not prevent Americans from embracing forms of clean, renewable energy.

Architect Geoffrey Gainer is cautious as he introduces the concept of green construction when beginning a kitchen remodel or design project for his clients. "Usually I will suggest a few options and one or two of them will be green. By the client's response I can gauge how receptive they will be to going green," says Gainer, whose firm, Actual-Size Architecture, is in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Metropolitan Joins U.S. Green Building Council in Promoting Eco-Friendly Homes in Southland Through the New LEED for Homes Rating System Someone should tell Kermit the Frog that it's finally getting easier to be green, especially while living in Southern California. This week, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California partners with the U.S. Green Building Council to encourage builders to create environmentally friendly new homes.

Home buyers are drawn to "green" home for its affordability and energy-saving features. This article contains a list of features that makes the house green and its new owners happy.

Three construction industry organizations announced plans to develop green building standards that they say could be incorporated into municipal building codes. The proposed standard would provide minimum requirements for the design of sustainable buildings to balance environmental responsibility, resource efficiency, occupant comfort and well-being and community sensitivity.

A San Diego new-home community built by Pardee Homes was instrumental in the company's winning recognition as Production Home Builder of the Year at the 2006 National Green Building Awards program.

The growing mandate for green design in home building is explored comprehensively for the first time by the National Building Museum in the exhibition "The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design." The milestone exhibition will be on view from May 20, 2006 through June 3, 2007.

When recommending flooring to customers and prospects, builders and remodelers may want to consider the possible impact on indoor air quality. Green (or sustainable) flooring materials, which come in a wide range of colors, are made from renewable resources rather than petroleum products or ancient forests. And unlike synthetic carpet and vinyl flooring, green flooring does not give off significant amounts of toxic volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) such as formaldehyde.

New research confirms what many have suspected all along: Beyond all the fancy Web sites and the convenience of shopping in your pajamas, it is excellence in transportation, distribution, and inventory management that holds the key to profiting on the 'Net. The leaders that understand this are already widening the competitive gap between themselves and the rest of the e-retail pack.In just a few years, Internet retailing has emerged as the growth engine of the retail sector. Consider the following.From 2001 to 2002, Internet retail sales increased 48 percent, defying the U.S. economic downturn. Internet sales were up 30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 over the same period in 2002, and sales are projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent through 2008.

Claudia and Stuart Wentworth wanted it all when it came to their home: To live in a nice place, save money and show concern for the environment. That's why they went green. "Green is about clean energy and clean living, what little things we can do to make a difference," Claudia Wentworth said. "It's not just an environmental thing, but an economic thing. You don't have to sacrifice a thing (in terms of lifestyle). We haven't changed a thing. It's almost like a win-win ... we have a beautiful home and still live pretty damn large."

U.S. credit unions are testing a 40-year mortgage in partnership with Fannie Mae, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.Although a few commercial banks offer the long mortgage, Fannie Mae's involvement in the test being conducted nationally by 16 credit unions could ensure that the product becomes standard fare in the mortgage lending business.

We've all seen images of condominiums, homes and commercial buildings damaged by Hurricane Ivan. But despite being attacked by one of the most devastating hurricanes to ever hit the Gulf Coast, some structures escaped nearly unscathed.Still others survived intact but ragged-looking, with missing or lifted shingles, torn siding and smashed windows "I saw a home that was completely destroyed and right behind it was a three-story house that had almost no damage," said State Farm catastrophic response team member Kevin Paulk, describing damage in the Tiger Point area."In Gulf Breeze, it didn't seem to matter how old the houses were, a lot of them had damage but others came out with almost none."So why did some homes get off nearly Scot free while others were slam dunked by the mighty storm?

Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into troubled mortgage guarantor Fannie Mae's bookkeeping practices, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.Moreover, Fannie Mae acknowledged in the filing that the Attorney General of Ohio has begun an investigation on behalf of Ohio public pension funds that have investments in the company.A spokeswoman from the Ohio Attorney general's office, Kim Norris, did not return a call.Fannie Mae's 8-K filing also said eight separate class-action lawsuits are being prepared against the company.

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. -- This northwestern corner of the St. Louis metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing places in the USA. It has the highest median household income ($58,547) in Missouri. Big companies -- Boeing, General Motors, Citigroup -- employ hundreds here.Unemployment is low, construction booming, housing prices soaring. But lines form every Thursday evening at the Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Service food pantry in St. Charles, where about 130 low-income residents pick up bags of groceries.