There’s more to 1085 Mill Creek Road than what first meets the eye. One can’t help but notice the elegant woodwork, stone fireplace, and soft lighting at first glance. But the key to what sets this property apart from most lies in the energy-monitoring panel. At any given moment, this house will tell you exactly how much energy it’s using, down to the penny.
‘You can turn on the lights and watch the pennies go up,’ said K.J. Miller, a real estate professional with Chase International, who worked with husband Jeff, president of Advance Design and Construction Inc., to build the house.
The $2.3 million Incline Village home, which is currently on the market, is the first house on Tahoe’s North Shore built according to the standards of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), an internationally recognized green building certification system. Built as a spec home by the Incline Village builder and realtor couple, the 3,748 square foot home achieved a silver LEED certification. The home is also Energy Star rated.
‘When you go to a builder convention, it is 99.99 percent green,’ said K.J. ‘That’s the way the world is going.’
K.J. and Jeff hand-selected a team of manufacturer and trade partners — what they dub the ‘Green Dream Building Team’ — to help them build this environmentally conscious home. A series of open house tours available to the public were hosted throughout the construction process to demonstrate and showcase the green products going into the home. Essentially a marketing tool, the Green Dream Home put the Millers and their team in the spotlight for green building.
‘The building techniques we utilized on the Green Dream Home are the future for residential construction, energy conservation, and respect for the environment that are fast becoming a major consideration for home buyers,’ said Jeff.
Green technology is interwoven throughout every layer of the house, from the roof and the foundation insulation to its heating and cooling systems, plumbing, windows, doors, and even the paints.
‘The energy-saving list goes on, but in the end today’s savvy buyers are in the market for a beautiful, innately livable home that is healthy for family members and the earth,’ said K.J.
The process to achieve LEED certification, however, required a massive commitment from the builders — especially since the home did not have a prospective buyer in mind throughout the process.
‘LEED was so unbelievably difficult and expensive,’ K.J. said, noting that going for LEED probably cost the builders about 10 to 15 percent more than had they not gone after the rigorous environmental stamp of approval.
‘You’ve got to start before you ever start the foundation,’ K.J. said.
Info: followthegreendreamhome.com, chaseinternational.com ~ Julie Brown
