“Green building is just good building,” said John Freer, president of Riverworks Inc., which is constructing a green-certified home in the Circle H Ranch subdivision west of Missoula along Butler Creek Road.
“Five years ago, you couldn't sell green. It wasn't sexy. It wasn't a granite countertop.”
Tester toured the construction site on Wednesday as part of a weeklong tour across western Montana to look at projects that save energy and talk with folks about their energy concerns.
Construction crews began work on the two-level, 3,700-square-foot home in May. It has three bedrooms, an office and 2.5 bathrooms.
When complete in November, the home will meet guidelines for the Montana Green Building Program, which was unveiled in June by the Montana Home Builders Association and Missoula Building Industry Association. It's a voluntary program that offers guidelines to builders and residential homeowners who want more environmentally friendly homes.
Many people want to build green, but the extent often boils down to cost, especially in a market where affordable homes are few and far between.
Arnie Sherman, executive director of the Montana World Trade Center and owner of the Circle H Ranch home, would like to install a wind turbine, too, but it's a balance between cost and benefit, he said.
Green-house building technology and recycled materials have decreased in price over the years, but part of gaining energy efficiency is as simple as making sure there are no gaps in the doors and windows, Freer said.
Education and planning are good places to start, Tester said.
Placing the heating system next to where it will get the most use, taking advantage of natural light to cut down on excessive light fixtures, and facing the house and windows in a direction that absorbs the most heat are things that don't cost extra, Tester said, but do require some forethought. The design of Sherman's home will take longer than the actual construction, Freer said.
In the basement, builders installed recycled denim in the ceiling to cut down on the noise of creaking feet on the hardwood floors above.
Using recycled or energy-efficient material can run a homeowner 1 percent to 5 percent more than customary materials, Freer said, but often the savings in energy costs is more than 15 percent - and that savings may increase if oil prices continue to go up.
“There are things that are just right to do,” Sherman said. “There's no reason not to do it anymore.”
From the construction site, Tester traveled to the U.S. Forest Service's Technology Development Center to test-drive a Chevy S-10 truck that was transformed to run entirely on electric power.
Other stops for Tester along the tour included the grand opening of a new biofuels plant in Butte, listening sessions in Dillon and Helena, meeting with members of the Montana Public Service Commission, and touring the Huls dairy farm in Corvallis, which is turning cow manure into methane.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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