RALEIGH, N.C. - Home buyers are increasingly looking at "green" features when choosing new homes, and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is making sure that builders can meet that demand, according to NAHB President David Pressly.

Pressly was in Raleigh to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new green-built home being constructed in a subdivision of the North Carolina capital.

"This is an exciting time for the building industry," said Pressly, a home builder and developer from Statesville, N.C. "Builders say more customers want green homes, and we are ready for that challenge."

Green building incorporates environmentally sensitive land development, resource conservation, and energy efficiency into construction methods. Cherokee Investment Partners, a developer specializing in the development of former industrial and commercial sites, or brownfields, is building the green home near its company headquarters to demonstrate green building in a typical suburban residential setting.

The house is being constructed using NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines, a tool for home builders ready to build green and for local home building associations interested in developing their own voluntary green building certification programs.

Pressly was joined at the groundbreaking by Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker and state Sen. Janet Cowell. Also attending were leaders from the Home Builders Association of Raleigh and Wake County and from the Home Builders Association of Durham and Orange Counties, which is launching its own green building certification program with a green home tour later this spring.

"This home fits right into its neighborhood," Pressly said. "It is a mainstream home. Seventy percent of the new homes that Americans buy every year are built by large home building companies that have been seeking ways to incorporate more green-built features into their products. This home offers solutions."

Publication date: 04/17/2006