A highlight of this year's Parade Of Homes in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metropolitan area is the "Building Green" tour of homes and products.
The Spring '08 Parade of Homes booklet features a section on Building Green, including a Mini-Tour of fourteen Green Homes across the Twin Cities area. Participating communities with Green Homes in the Parade include Otsego, Mound, Excelsior, Shakopee, Blaine, Minneapolis, Arden Hills, Vadnais Heights, Rosemount, Red Wing, Woodbury, Hudson and Stillwater.
Despite the fact that this year's Parade of Homes has 40% fewer participating homes, the Green Tour is a bright spot! Prices for these Green Homes listed in the Parade roster range from $255,000 (for a home in the Red Wing community) to nearly three million dollars for a 5400 square foot home in Mound.
Energy efficiency is not the only factor that is stressed by the Green Star program, although Minnesota builders are proud of their standard, which Minnesota GreenStar Chair Mike Swanson describes as "a notch above EnergyStar". Other criteria that are used to evaluate the worthiness of a home for consideration in the program include:
Resource Efficiency Use and Durability
Indoor Environmental Quality
Water Conservation
Site Management and Use
Participating Twin Cities builders admit there's a lot riding on this year's Parade of Homes. With fewer homes on display (over half of which were sold prior to the event) and a challenging real estate market in the area, builders are hopeful that Building Green will help make the 2008 Parade a success. The Parade runs from February 9 until March 16.
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