By, Staff Eco-Redux

While the economy is struggling to find even footing, green home builder, Martha Rose, continues to raise the green home-building bar.  “We have seen a tremendous amount of interest in our new high-performance homes,” mentions Rose. “We are seeing a much greater consumer interest in energy efficient and environmentally friendly homes.”

In 2008 Martha Rose Construction joined U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to announce a new national energy-saving initiative-the U.S. Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge.  The program encourages U.S. home builders to adopt the E-Scale on a voluntary basis.  The idea is to accelerate integrated design and building practices that have been developed and verified through DOE research in its Building America program.

The U.S. Department of Energy has posed a challenge to the homebuilding industry – to build 220,000 high performance homes by 2012.  Homes that qualify for the Builders Challenge must achieve a 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale (E-Scale), meaning that they will use at least 30% less energy than a typical new home built to code.

“Building high-performance homes makes us part of the solution when it comes to our world’s energy challenges. Working with the Building America Team insures that we will accomplish this goal with clarity and efficiency,” says Rose.

For more information: MarthaRoseConstruction.com or buildingamerica.gov/challenge