Habitat for Humanity to build more energy-efficient homes

Article originally posted on Nooga.com.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga built their first home using the city's green home rating system, Better Built, and announced a new partnership to ensure high-performance standards for all future homes constructed.

Habitat will build 100 percent of the new homes using the Better Built standards, which will give recipients of the homes more energy-efficient and affordable places to live.

“Our partnership with Better Built stems from our mission to provide low-income families affordable housing,” Dennis Neal of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga said. “By using the Better Built rating system, we are able to build more energy-efficient homes that remain affordable for families by lowering utility costs.”

Led by local architects, contractors, realtors and homeowners, Better Built is a local certification program that provides standards for environmentally responsible and high-performance homes. Several area builders and developers have committed to build new home projects using the standards.

“With Habitat's partnership, we are illustrating how easy and effective it is to build high-performance homes,” Brandi Hill, Better Built program director, said. “We make it realistic for anyone building a new home to use these advanced standards—resulting in real value for homeowners as well as our community.”

Learn more about the Better Built program by visiting their website.