Washington, DC, March 2--The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will build on its commitment to meeting consumer demand for resource efficient, environmentally sensitive and cost-effective new homes at its 2005 National Green Building Conference, March 13-15, 2005 in downtown Atlanta.
"To thrive as a green builder, you have got to be environmentally friendly while keeping in mind your customers’ pocketbooks," said Ray Tonjes, chairman of NAHB’s Green Building Subcommittee and a home builder from Austin, Texas. "This conference shines a spotlight on successful green building techniques and concepts as they move further into mainstream home building."
A special learning track will provide comprehensive information on NAHB’s voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines, recently developed to help builders incorporate affordable environmental practices into every phase of the home building process.
Aptly themed "Greening the American Dream," the 2005 conference will also focus on meeting rising consumer demand for green-built homes through educational sessions such as "Building America’s Houses That Work," "Why Green Development Makes Cents" and "New Approaches to Great Communities."
Education sessions will take place March 14 and 15 at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.
On March 13, conference attendees can take a bus tour of green built residential and commercial properties in the Atlanta area. The tour will highlight green success stories, including
-Brookhaven Solar EarthCraft House, an energy efficient home that uses impressive water conservation methods
-McConnell Homes, elegant side-by-side infill houses
-Southface, a certified Energy Star commercial office building
-Magnolia Circle, an affordable multifamily housing development for seniors
-Glenwood Park, a mixed-use development built on a reclaimed brownfield.
"This conference is really about two things – highlighting current green building successes, like the properties featured on the tour, and bringing green building to more builders and consumers," said Tonjes. "If homes built today are 100 percent more energy efficient than those built 30 years ago, then continued advances in energy and resource efficiency will help make homes of the future even more efficient and more affordable for Americans."
More information on the National Green Building Conference is available at www.nahb.org/greenbuilding. To learn more about NAHB’s Model Green Home Building Guidelines, go to www.nahb.org/gbg
