Green Building Elements

Homes for Our Troops builds specially adapted homes for injured veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, free of charge.  Thanks to a recent grant from The Sierra Club, these homes will now be built green.  “This grant will allow us to incorporate state of the art building techniques and materials such as geothermal heating system[s] and photovoltaic solar panels to give our veterans the long-term economic and environmental benefits of green building,” says Homes for Our Troops President and Founder John Gonsalves.

Homes for Our Troops is a non-profit organization, founded in 2004, that has already completed 28 specially adapted homes across the country for veterans of the current conflict.  Two dozen homes are currently underway, and they plan to build 100 more homes over the next three years.  They raise donations of money, building materials, and professional labor, and coordinate the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility.  All of this is done at no charge to the veteran.

With the current grant from The Sierra Club, new homes will be built with environmental and energy conservation concerns in mind, participate in the Energy Star program, and the LEED for Homes program established by the US Green Building Council.  These new homes will provide long-term economic and environmental benefits to the veterans and their families.

Homes for Our Troops will also incorporate outreach into its new home program, educating the home construction industry and the general public on the benefits and importance of green building.  They hope to promote a greater understanding of the benefits of the green building movement.

As the wife of a (thankfully) healthy returning veteran, I fully support this effort to give back to those who keep us safe and free.  I urge our readers to visit the Homes for Our Troops website and donate to this worthy cause.

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