"Thanks to a lot of hard work and dedication," explains Kathy Garvin, executive director of Metropolitan Richmond's Habitat for Humanity chapter, "Habitat has helped more than 225 families own their own home. If "affordable housing" is the goal, Habitat clearly has a how-to model as good as any."

But now Habitat Richmond wants to make its housing even more affordable and it's "going green" to get there by sealing and insulating crawl spaces, installing low e-windows, placing the heat pump beneath the house, not outside it, using hardi-planks instead of vinyl siding, and by choosing cork or bamboo flooring instead of carpeting.

Karl Bren, a Richmond-based consultant and advocate of "green" building techniques, has agreed to provide Richmond Habitat with both technical assistance and monitoring assistance to, as Garvin explains, insure that "our homeowners get what they sweat for" as the initiative moves forward. "On paper, green is a smart, short-term investment with long-term gains," she adds, "but we want to make sure."

"Green may be the color of money," notes Garvin, " but, over the long haul, we also believe it's the color of energy efficiency and long-term cost effectiveness. If we're right, "going green" will mean less of an impact on the environment and less of an impact on the wallets of Habitat homeowners."

"Green may be the color of money," notes Garvin, " but, over the long haul, we also believe it's the color of energy efficiency and long-term cost effectiveness. If we're right, "going green" will mean less of an impact on the environment and less of an impact on the wallets of Habitat homeowners."

Habitat for Humanity chapters like Richmond receive HUD Self-Help Opportunity Program (SHOP) grants to assist with infrastructure development. Building materials are donated by developers, contractors and others while the actual construction is done by volunteers. HUD's 21-point Energy Action Plan - launched by then Deputy Secretary Alphonso Jackson in 2001 - estimated that cutting HUD's energy costs by just 5 percent could realize savings of some $2 billion over the next year.

The 2005 LandAmerica home completed by Habitat Richmond volunteers in June, featured a sealed and insulated crawl space, low e-windows and a heat pump placed below the home.