What exactly does it mean when we say a home is built “green”? The best way to answer that question is to say that no “one thing” makes a home “green.” Rather, it is a whole-house approach to how a home is built, including its impact on the land and natural resources, which determines whether a home is built “green.” National green building programs have been in existence for many years. The problem has been that the criteria to qualify a home in those programs was generally developed for other parts of the country which deal with climates very different from ours in the Rio Grande Valley, particularly winter and summer seasons. It was for this reason that the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association recently initiated the GreenBuilt Rio Grande Valley Program (GreenBuilt RGV), a “green” program custom designed for homebuilding in the Rio Grande Valley. In order for a home to be certified as GreenBuilt RGV, it must also qualify for the ENERGY STAR rating.
The Valley’s first builder to register three homes in this new GreenBuiltRGV program was Chris Ryan Homes and Investments, LLC. Mary and Michael Ramirez of Chris Ryan Homes have been building homes in the Rio Grande Valley for over 15 years. Chris Ryan Homes has built a solid reputation for providing quality construction as any of its previous customers can attest to. How Mary and Michael got that reputation for quality is easy to understand when you learn that they are personally involved in what goes into their homes on a daily basis. The company has always focused more on the quality of the homes it builds than the quantity of homes it builds. That is why when Mary and Michael found out about the GreenBuilt RGV program, they didn’t hesitate to incorporate its building criteria into their already “quality-conscious” building practices.