Green Building

Green Homes is a term that is often incorrectly used when describing the construction of a home. Simply installing a component such as an Energy Star appliance or using a CFL or LED light bulb does not make a house “Green.” Green Homes are high performance homes that utilize construction techniques that use and waste less energy than standard homes and are constructed with the environment in mind. Solar panels are great at utilizing nature's resources; however they do little good when you have a leaky or poorly insulated home. A green built home should be built as a system rather than installing a few energy efficient products.

Viridian Homes utilizes a “whole house approach” to building homes that are built with energy efficiency, resource responsibility, indoor air quality and durability in mind. Various components of the house must work together as a system to make a home green.Our homes have lower utility costs then standard new homes due to higher insulation values, tighter building envelopes, and higher efficiency equipment. Also in conjunction with our building techniques, your home will have increased comfort and indoor air quality thanks to enhanced air sealing. Additionally, a green built home will result in a higher resale value, especially as green homes become more important to consumers.

Viridian Homes has built homes underneath the Energy Star Program, the EarthCraft House of Virginia program, and NAHB National Green Building Programs. All these programs offer guidelines on how green houses should be built and include a third-party verification of the house both during and after construction. Third-party verifications ensure that the house is indeed built green and typically even produces a score on house performance efficiency using the RESNET HERS Index. The standard new home today has a HERS Index of 100, our homes have typically been in the 75-60 score range which means our homes can be anywhere from 25-40% more efficient than the standard new construction home, or even as much as 55-70% more efficient than a typical resale home.

Useful Green Building websites: