By Linwood Outlaw III — Daily Staff Writer

WOODSTOCK — Building houses is virtually second nature for local builder H.B. Sager.

This time around, however, he is stepping outside the norm and employing some rather unconventional methods to construct his latest home.

Sager, a builder with Gracehaven Construction, is building a 1,500-square-foot home on West Court Street in Woodstock, a home he says "will be built with some unusual materials and will incorporate some nontypical methods of building."

In short, Sager is building a "green" house using renewable materials and solar technology — and without volatile organic compounds. Green homes are built with resources that particularly help homeowners save money on utility bills.

"This house is basically going to be built to at least Energy Star standards. ... I'm building a house that's going to have clean air. It's really going to benefit people that have health issues," Sager said. "They say the average 2,000-square foot house in the United States produces about 12 tons that goes to the landfill, and I'm recycling everything that comes out of here. I'm reusing it or recycling it. So I'm not sending anything except the very, very minimum to the landfill. ... It's going to cost me a little bit more money to [build the house]. I'm not going to make as much [from selling the house] as I could if I were to just build it conventionally."

The green building field formally began in United States in the 1990s. It improves the way homes use energy, water and other materials to reduce impacts on human health and the environment, and involves incorporating such elements as water-efficient products, and smart growth and sustainable land development practices.

Green building protects biodiversity and ecosystems, improves water and air quality, reduces waste streams and minimizes operating costs, among other benefits.

Volatile organic compounds, meanwhile, include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- or long-term adverse health effects.

There are nearly 50 regional and national green home labeling programs in the country, according to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

Sager said he began exploring the possibility of building a green house more than two years ago, when he became ill from an unknown medical condition shortly after he volunteered with Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts.

He said the illness was related to mold he had come in contact with while helping with relief efforts.

"I basically became unemployed. I couldn't get out of bed for months and months and months. I just started researching things about green building," Sager said. "As I was trying to diagnose my own illness, I got into this clean air thing. ... I guess, really, getting sick kind of started me out on this."

Energy used in homes comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which often contributes to smog, acid rain and risks of global climate change, according to Energy Star's official Web site.

Energy-efficient improvements can save homeowners anywhere from $200 to $400 on utility bills per year, experts say.

"When people buy a $300,000 house, they don't think about what it's going to cost to run that monthly," Sager said. "All of a sudden it's like 'wow, I'm spending $500 a month on my electric' and other expenses. Hopefully, this house lowers that cost every month."

Sager said construction on the green house should be finished in June. The three-bedroom home could sell for as much as $250,000. The house will also have a "super-high efficiency heat pump," renewable bamboo flooring and a solar hot water heater, Sager said.

Sager is optimistic that selling such a unique house won't be too much of a challenge.

"I'm hoping it is not a tough sell. I think it's going to appeal to a lot of people," he said. "Everything I'm doing is making it so that it doesn't cost a lot to heat the house, cool the house or run the house on a monthly basis. And that should be attractive to people."

Sager said green homes are a rarity in the area, though he hopes this one will jump-start a new building trend in the region.

"I'm hoping this is the first. But, I hope it's certainly not the last one," Sager said. "It's a better house to be quite honest with you. It's a better house because it's more efficient with energy."

*Contact Linwood Outlaw III at loutlaw@nvdaily.com.