Costa Mesa California

– Article by CaliforniaGermans contributor Claudia Gardner

With more and more people living on planet Earth and a major strain on natural resources, home buyers are starting to investigate and want to buy a “green” or eco friendly home. Some home builders have already started to cater to this need.

What is a true “green” home? It is a home that is built with the intent to save money for the home buyer and at the same time save the environment. When constructing green, a careful choice of environmentally preferred building materials is adopted. The preference is to use products that are processed and manufactured locally to avoid greater energy use for transportation and to cause less air pollution and therefore to reduce global warming. Materials used in the construction are more durable and therefore require less replacement in the future.

Real Estate Developer Steven Blanchard has received the Platinum award for Orange County’s first custom home rated by the US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. The Orange County native began planning his green home from the scratch over two years ago and then spent a year actually building the house. It is a 5000 sq. ft, 7 bedroom home with golf course view. Steven Blanchard’s objective was to build Orange County’s first true green home. Here are some of the features that made him the first homeowner in Orange County to win the nations’ highest rating under the LEED green-building program:

Home orientation to capture maximum sun light for solar heating.
Photovoltaic cells that provide 90%of energy to run the home.
Filters that pump shower and bath water back for irrigation of toilets and water recycling.
Features to stop water, air, radon and insect infiltration
Durable materials chosen to minimize replacement waste and cost
Use of engineered lumber from small trees, stronger than conventional
Ventilation offers high indoor air quality and low cost of cooling
High efficiency air conditioner, filters
Highly insulated walls and windows
Radiant barrier installed under reflective color metal roofing
Native landscape that requires no water.
Low-flow plumbing fixtures and high efficiency appliances
Tankless water heaters installed near point of use
Energy Star® Advanced Lighting Package installed with many LED fixtures.