What Shade of Green are You?

What is green building? You’ll get many different answers depending on which website you visit, whom you ask, or which building techniques or systems have the greatest media exposure. There are several different programs that rate eco-friendly homes throughout the U.S, all of which have the same goal of improving green construction practices, but all of which have different scales and rules assessing how that is achieved. Build Green New Mexico and LEED are two of the most prominent programs in New Mexico being used. The city of Santa Fe now requires all new homes built within city limits to follow the Santa Fe Residential Green Building Code, which has requirements consistent with Build Green New Mexico recommendations. However, home owners can use either rating system to apply for the Sustainable Building Tax Credit.

There are plenty of businesses who say they are ‘green builders’ because it’s becoming the industry standard but don’t truly operate, or care about being green, and there are those who have been green since the beginning.  At K.M. Skelly, Inc., we built our first GREEN home in the 1970’s, before the company was even founded, for our first family home.  We used techniques such as advanced framing, wet spray cellulose insulation, locally harvested lumber, and passive solar design, that are only now becoming mainstream building practices.

This desire to build using eco- friendly techniques has continued in our business practice today.  We attend green tradeshows, educational courses, and stay abreast of the newest technologies and systems.  Kevin Skelly has the distinct designation of Certified Green Professional by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) by completing 24 hours of NAHB training and additional continuing education every three years.

Today, systems such as active solar, geothermal, and wind energy are becoming much more practical due to drastic improvements in technology, and financial subsidies that are readily available. By incorporating the technologies of today, with innovative designs taught throughout history, we can truly help you achieve a GREEN home.