Green leaders

Quietly, one building and one builder at a time, the Seattle area has emerged as a national leader in the "green-building" movement that promotes sustainable-construction practices.

It's not just local builders who've constructed thousands of ecologically forward homes saying this.

It's also government officials, advocates of the national eco-building movement, and the architect who jumped to national fame with her quest to make new houses "not so big."

"Seattle is really on the national and international map in terms of green building," said Diane Sugimura, director of Seattle's Department of Planning & Development. "People in other cities call to ask what's happening here."

Patti Southard, who manages King County's residential green building program, agrees.

"This region is a national leader," Southard said. "I believe we have the best residential green-building program in the nation because it covers every gamut of it, from remodels to whole communities."

To learn more

• www.builtgreen.net

• www.ecobuilding.org

Like Sugimura, Southard took part in the recent Built Green Conference in Seattle that drew more than 500 ecologically oriented builders, developers, architects and others — roughly double the number who attended last year.

The conference's keynote speaker, North Carolina architect and author of the best-selling "Not So Big House" series Sarah Susanka, lauded the Seattle region as a national leader because it's successfully amassed experts who easily work together toward a common goal.

"This is what Seattle is doing — getting architects, builders, designers, etc., on the same page," Susanka said. "This is huge."

And far-ranging. The area's green-building practitioners range from small custom builders such as Greenleaf Construction, which builds about 10 houses a year, to Quadrant Homes, the largest homebuilder in the region. Quadrant sold 1,391 new homes last year.

"Every one was built to a three-star Built Green standard," said Bill Boucher vice president of marketing and communications at Quadrant. "As we continue to grow and expand as a company, every home will be built to Built Green standards. That's our goal."

One of the region's largest new neighborhoods, Issaquah Highlands, is thoroughly green, as is High Point, the West Seattle public-housing project that's being reborn and rebuilt green.

And sprinkled around are numerous sustainably built condominiums, apartments, town houses, compact cottage communities and entire new neighborhoods built by well-known firms, including Centex Homes, Bennett Homes, Burnstead Construction, Chaffey Homes, CamWest and John F. Buchan Construction.

In all, 6,212 local new houses have been certified as Built Green since 2000, according to Aaron Adelstein, executive director of the Built Green program of the Master Builders of King & Snohomish Counties.

Adelstein anticipates that 2,000 more green homes will be built in the two counties this year.

"In the past year, it's really entered the mainstream," he noted.

This wouldn't be happening if it didn't resonate with buyers. Susanka said this is where the Seattle area distinguishes itself because it's particularly rich in the kind of people who find sustainable practices appealing.

Researchers have dubbed them "cultural creatives," Susanka said. Numbering 50 million people nationally, "they tend to be overeducated," she said.

"They're tuned out to most mass media, but are avid NPR listeners. They believe life is about more than making money."

They are intensely interested in "self-development and spirituality — how do I embody what I believe in my life and my world," Susanka said. "It's not just because they're trying to do good for the planet. They're trying to do good in their heart."

That, Susanka said, "is why Built Green resonates with these people."

One is Dianne Szerlong, who with her husband, Glenn Szerlong, bought a newly built green home in Seattle's Madison Valley neighborhood.

The idea of buying a sustainably built house meshed well with her values.

When she learned that 60 percent of the materials used to built her 1,400- square-foot house were recycled — including aluminum front stairs recycled from an industrial plant — "that was very exciting," Dianne Szerlong said. So was getting a small house because it consumed fewer resources.

"It's just one extra thing I can do to feel good about my choices," she said.

The Szerlongs' home was built by Greenleaf Construction. With about 24 years in the building trades, Greenleaf owner Jim Barger had an awakening a couple of years ago when he was hospitalized because of an unexpected and severe reaction to chemicals in a floor finish.

"When things like that happen, you ask, 'What am I doing and why am I doing it?' " Barger said.

That led him to Green Building seminars hosted by the city of Seattle and the Master Builders Association, and a new approach to his profession.

"It was a philosophical change for us," Barger said. "I didn't feel after building green that we could build homes the way we were building before. We want to build homes that are great living environments."

His project now involves recycling what he can from a mold- and water-damaged 1909 Capitol Hill house and then building a duplex and carriage house on the site. It will incorporate trim newly milled from the home's original structural lumber, and other vintage materials.

Building green adds at least 10 percent to the price of the same house if not built green, Barger said. He justifies the cost to buyers by telling them that eco-friendly materials and techniques add value.

"Nontoxic materials are used so they may forgo a lot of health issues," he said. "And the homes have greater energy efficiency."

Built Green incorporates a vast array of materials and methods, and homes are certified according to a star system. Many local builders build to a three-star rating.

Martha Rose, owner of Martha Rose Construction, builds for-sale homes to a five-star rating, the most stringent.

Among the differences are significantly more insulation, higher-efficiency lighting, heating and appliances that, taken together, slash energy costs.

"To go five star on a spec home is kind of sticking your neck out," Rose confided. "But there are people who want that and are excited about it and committed to buying."

More challenging, Rose said, has been convincing those builders who've been able to easily sell nongreen houses that going green is in their best interests.

"They probably perceive it as an unnecessary burden," she said.

Rose thinks change is inevitable, comparing it to the move toward more fuel-efficient cars caused by high gas prices. As the costs of running and maintaining a home climb, buyers will likewise want more-efficient homes, she said.

Built Green will be there to fill the bill.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com

Photos by Northwest Property Imaging