In Business Las Vegas

Law and Utilities

Green homebuilding concepts becoming concrete

By Stephanie Tavares / Staff Writer

Green building in residential developments is finally catching on in Las Vegas.

After years of committees and discussions and negotiations, the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership, in conjunction with five area builders, is seeing the first midpriced certified green homes being built in Las Vegas.

Green building concepts have been popular in the West for years, mostly in the custom-home market. But as more builders become comfortable with green building techniques and materials and more architects routinely create green designs, conservation-oriented homes are becoming more economical and common.

"Finally, the industry is developing this program to bring these features to production housing so we can do handfuls of housing at a time and at an affordable rate," said Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, a member of the partnership. "People have to be able to afford these homes — that's what we've been working on."

Pulte Homes announced in November it would build five green homes as models in its Timber Creek development. Signature Homes and Signature Custom Homes have been building green homes since June. And R/S Development and Pinnacle Homes have signed on to build green homes.

These homes are part of a new generation of Las Vegas developments that offer not only an affordable new dwelling, but conserve water, electricity and gas while reducing indoor air pollutants and use more environmentally sensitive products such as carpets made from recycled materials and sustainably harvested wood products.

The homes are individually certified by the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership, composed of the Southern Nevada Builders Association; Portland, Ore.-based Green Building Initiative, a nonprofit organization promoting green residential building; and a group of third-party inspectors.

To be certified as green, each home would undergo a thorough evaluation by the independent auditors. They will be assessed on compliance with guidelines on everything from waste generation and disposal during construction to energy efficiency and water-smart landscaping.

The guidelines are specific to Southern Nevada's climate and were created by a committee of local builders, energy consultants, utilities and manufacturers. They are based, in part, on guidelines from a committee first brought together in 1998 by the National Association of Home Builders.

The Nevada guidelines take into account the water shortage and extreme summer heat. The committee spent months balancing conservation goals with cost and practicality considerations.

To differentiate these green certified homes from those merely using the term "green" as a marketing gimmick, the Southern Nevada Home Builders partnered with the Green Building Initiative, which gave further input on the requirements for the program and was tasked with ensuring they were stringent enough to be taken seriously.

"In general, businesses were starting to use the word green in their marketing, and there was a concern here among leadership about how to really show it's green," Caruso said. "We wanted it to be verifiable. We didn't want to see the term just being thrown around."

The partnership's certification is the first residential green certification program in the state. Among the requirements are:

Waste — The homes must be built using a detailed waste management plan to reduce the amount of raw materials used and discarded in the construction process.

— They must use recycled construction materials such as soy-based insulation, sustainably harvested wood products and oriented strand board.

— The homes must be at least 15 percent more energy efficient than the current international conservation code or local energy code, whichever is more stringent. If the builder is installing appliances for the homeowner, they must meet high energy efficiency standards.

— Front yards must be desert friendly (no lawns), and back yards can't be more than 50 percent turf. If a pool or spa is installed, the surface area of the water will be deducted from the allowed lawn size. Ornamental water features are not permitted unless they are part of the pool or spa. And landscape irrigation must be customized to most efficiently meet the landscape's needs without waste. High efficiency plumbing fixtures must be used and low flow fixtures and faucets are required. Swamp coolers are not allowed.

— The homes must also use materials that minimize indoor pollutants such as sealed gas or wood-burning fireplaces or wood stoves, low formaldehyde fiberboard, plywood and paneling and Green Label certified carpeting (from the Carpet and Rug Institute's indoor air quality testing program). The homes must include ventilation systems to manage air pollutants generated in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room.

Although these homes are greener than traditional homes, they are far from being the most environmentally sensitive or green in the industry. They could be greener.

For example, this program does not require use of gray water systems that divert used water from showers, washing machines and sinks to irrigate lawns and gardens. And although Southern Nevada gets little rain — about four inches a year — what little we get could be collected from the rooftops for later use in the yard.

There is also no mention in the guidelines of rooftop solar arrays or small wind turbines that could be used to generate electricity for use in the home.

Also, the homes are not specifically required to have argon-filled double- or triple-paned windows. However it would be difficult to meet the 15 percent energy efficiency standard without them.

The guidelines are far from cutting edge. Many have been in use throughout the industry for years.

In states where green residential building has a longer history, a total-community approach is the new trend. In those programs, the development is evaluated as a whole. Builders incorporate land conservation strategies into their work practices including preservation of washes and wildlife habitat. All homes in these developments would have to meet green certification requirements, not just a handful.

The Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership certification only evaluates on a house-by-house basis, meaning the home might be green, but the rest of the neighborhood might not be.

The question is, would people be willing to pay more for a "super" green home than a "regular" green home?

Although recycled materials are priced comparably to traditional materials, solar arrays and gray water systems cost extra — no small consideration in a tough housing market. And Nevadans are relatively new to the green game, so there has been no real test of how much demand there is for these types of homes. Most people can't afford a self-sustaining home or a home in a development that sets aside large swaths of land for open space.

If a builder cannot sell a green home, then he won't build them. The new certification program, while not as green as it could be, allows builders of midpriced homes to bring a viable green product to market.

Stephanie Tavares covers utilities and law for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4059 or tavares@lasvegassun.com.

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