Building 'Green,' A Dream at a Time

For all the talk from various government agencies about promoting energy efficiency, there has been little money to back it up.

"In general, the federal government has not made it easy for homeowners to go green," said Stella Tarnay, manager of Arlington's Green Choice green building program. "Except for recent tax credits, there's been precious little for homeowners or incentives for environmental and energy improvements. And despite the growing interest in green homes and green buildings, Virginia has been slow in supporting environmental innovation."

Although the federal government and a few states, including California and Florida, offer homeowners and businesses small tax incentives and credits when they install solar power, upgrade insulation or windows or take other measures to save energy, Virginia offers nothing.

"Maryland has a tax credit for the purchase of solar panels. Virginia doesn't," said Lee O'Neal, a home energy rater with NSpects in Chantilly, who conducts home energy audits and helps devise plans to make homes more efficient. "Last year, we had nine bills on energy efficiency and green building in the Virginia General Assembly, and all of them were tabled."

Actually, lawmakers did pass one bill last year to encourage solar, wind, natural gas and other alternative fuels, as well as encourage fuel and energy efficiency. But the measure was never funded, Hill said.

Still, O'Neal and Tarnay said they are seeing a growing interest in green homebuilding, especially as the housing market has slowed and contractors are looking for an edge. A year ago, Tarnay had one or two homebuilders in her program. This year, there are 10. "For a small locality with very modest new home construction, that's quite impressive," she said. "I think that's a harbinger of market trends in the region."

Although Hill's permits are stalled at City Hall, the guy he needs to sign off on the engineering lives out of state and doesn't have a Virginia license, and he has a host of other hurdles to jump, Hill has a small group of advocates cheering him on.

"It's thrilling to see someone like Terry Hill spend the time and invest the money in an innovative green project," Arlington's Tarnay said. "He's learning as he goes, and he's building his home without the benefit of a local green program to support him, without the benefit of state resources and, given that, he's making great progress."

Today, though Hill's future home is still a muddy hole, his belongings are in storage and he is living in a rental, the dreamer has a new dream. Maybe building zero-energy houses will be his next new thing.

"This has taken so much time. . . . I've made so many mistakes. There were so many things I didn't know," he said. "But once I've finished, I'll have put together a system here that could be replicated in the future. I think it's finally time for this green stuff."