Austin has long been a home for friendly folk-friendly for the other, animals and environmentally friendly. What was regarded as only the concerns of hippies and bohemian sect, environmentalism is now at the forefront of commercial and residential projects and “green” businesses are emerging at national level. Austin, however, was the first city in the United States to establish a local eco-building, laying down guidelines for green and sustainable home builders and interested citizens in 1991.
As the Austin real estate market is known nationally as a leader in green building practices, the National Association of Home Builders has chosen the city as a hub to launch an effort to establish industry guidelines for green building in 2004. These guidelines now provide a practical framework for nationally recognized manufacturers to follow to reduce the environmental impact of a house by making them more efficient, improving the quality of the indoor environment, and so on. Although Austin has already used similar guidelines for over a decade, now the rest of the country has followed suit.
The city of Austin and Austin Energy will provide an excellent resource for owners and builders of new home in Austin, who are looking for ways to save energy and build an ecological house. Website of the city offers a list of companies that want to do an analysis of home energy efficiency that will identify options to help keep the house more energy, with proposals ranging from repair of air conditioning in time stripping doors. The city offers a 20 to 75% of the cost.
