Pressly was in Raleigh on April 3 to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new green-built home being constructed in a subdivision of the North Carolina capital.

?EUR??,,????'??This is an exciting time for the building industry,?EUR??,,????'?? said Pressly. ?EUR??,,????'??Builders say more customers want green homes, and we are ready for that challenge.?EUR??,,????'??

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 ?EUR??,,????'??+ environmentally sensitive land development, resource conservation and energy efficiency ?EUR??,,????'??+ in a typical suburban residential setting.

The house is being constructed using NAHB?EUR??,,????'???s Model Green Home Building Guidelines, a tool for home builders ready to build green and for local home builder 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-Wake County and from the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties, which is launching its own green building certification program with a green home tour later this spring.

Architect and designer William McDonough called the house ?EUR??,,????'??an essay of clues about the future?EUR??,,????'?? and ?EUR??,,????'??a very important stake in the ground,?EUR??,,????'?? and congratulated Cherokee for setting an example for local builders that they, too, can imagine building.

?EUR??,,????'??This home fits right into its neighborhood,?EUR??,,????'?? Pressly said. ?EUR??,,????'??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.?EUR??,,????'??