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First Home Builder Signs Up to Participate in
Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership

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Green Home Building Guidelines in 2004. The NAHB Model Guidelines were developed by a national stakeholder group of nearly 60 builders, environmentalists, government agencies and product manufacturers. The NAHB Model Guidelines provided a baseline for voluntary practical green building approaches for the residential construction industry in Southern Nevada.

Last summer, Plaster put two college interns to work researching the topic of residential green building, and then, writing a report about how it could be done in Southern Nevada.

“They looked at how to do it; how to market it,” Plaster said. “Their report served as a blueprint to launch our involvement in green building.” The interns were from the University of California at Santa Barbara and Connecticut College, he said.

Meanwhile, Plaster was aware of the announcement in June 2005 that the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association was developing a green building program. He said that caught his attention as the potential way to get involved in green building.

The Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and the Green Building Initiative of Portland, Ore. joined forces in early 2005 to form the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership. The mission of the Green Building Initiative is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green approaches. The Green Building Initiative partnered with the National Association of Home Builders, and local home builders association chapters, such as the Southern Nevada association, to develop green building programs based on the NAHB Model Guidelines and customized to specific geographic locations.

"The GBI applauds the Southern Nevada Green Building Partnership and Signature Custom Homes for their commitment to support growth in residential green building,” said Kelly O'Brien, director of residential programs for the GBI. “Their dedication sets an example for builders across Nevada to further accelerate the adoption of green built homes.”

SNHBA’s Porter said the precedent is in place for a successful green building program in Southern Nevada’s home building industry.

“Although homes built today are 100 percent more energy-efficient than housing built during the 1970s, the goal of bringing a verifiable, certifiable green building program to our finite