Annual Green Home Tour Nearing Kick Off

DURHAM, N.C. - March 21, 2016 - PRLog -- Green Home Builders of the Triangle (GHBT) presents the 2016 Green Home Tour April 30 - May 1 and May 7 - 8, noon - 5:00 pm, at new and remodeled green certified homes throughout the area. In its11^th year of inviting the public to view green building practices and materials, this free self-guided GHBT event showcases a variety of excellent examples of certified green home construction. Each home in the tour is inspected and third-party verified, making sure each home meets the minimum certification requirements established by the National Green Building Standard (NGBS). Green Home Builders of the Triangle is a joint council of the Home Builders Associations (HBAs) of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties and of Raleigh-Wake County.

With today's home buyers looking for healthy, efficient, cost-effective homes, green builders are poised to fulfill these consumer needs. The Tour showcases a diverse collection of certified green new and remodeled homes in this annual open house, with a building professional onsite at each home to answer questions and present the home's green features. The tour homes may be in various stages of construction or owner-occupied. This is a unique opportunity to see first-hand some of the innovative green building practices at work in our area.

According to Michele Myers, 2016 GHBT Chair, the following defines high-performance green home certification: environmentally low-impact site, lot design and development; efficient energy and water usage and performance; clean and healthy indoor air; durable low-maintenance products and specialized construction techniques; careful consideration of building materials including recycling/reuse; homeowner training and education about the home's performance features and maintenance throughout the building process, and independent third-party testing and verification confirming adherence to the rigorous standards of NGBS. The benefits of these homes include superior return on investment, increased home comfort and healthiness, a limited impact on the environment, and the conservation of valuable and increasingly scarce resources.

"I encourage you to visit the homes participating in this year's Triangle Green Home Tour," says Myers. "Talking with the builders and representatives and viewing the advanced building practices and materials will give you a greater appreciation of what is involved in the superior construction requirements of NGBS. Homes certified to those standards result in healthier, more comfortable, energy efficient and life cycle cost effective homes."

The Triangle has long been recognized as a leader in building innovative, high-performance, green homes. According to the Home Innovation Research Labs' National Green Building Standard Certification Program, North Carolina was ranked first in the country in the number of single family certifications and third in the number of multi-family certifications in 2015.

Green Home Tour guidebooks are available at all area Whole Foods and Harris Teeter stores, HBA offices, and area Realtor^® Association offices. For more information about the Tour, call (919) 493-889 or visit www.hbadoc.com/pages/green-home-tour, #TriangleGreenHomeTour, and www.facebook.com/GreenHomesTriangle/.