SUSTAINABLE BUILDING

$2.2 million, zero-energy home may serve as educational showcase as city revamps codes

Model: State's green codes in effect Tuesday

A luxury home under construction south of the Santa Fe Opera will serve as a showcase for zero-energy, low-water-use design.

More than that, the planned 4,100-square-foot Emerald Home in the Monte Sereno subdivision will become a tutorial for other builders, architects and owners interested in green building, according

to designer/builder Faren Dancer of

Sundancer Creations.

And a subsequent 1,000-square-foot, off-grid, zero-energy house he'll build for Santa Fe County Commissioner-elect Kathy Holian will demonstrate how similar systems can be used in smaller designs. "People can take bits and chunks of these systems and apply to their own designs," he said.