The Richmond Home & Garden Show took on an environmentally friendly look this year.

For the first time in the show's 32 years, it featured an entire area dedicated to green building. The pavilion included everything from sunrooms to windows to waste-disposal experts to builders, all geared toward getting the most from a home with the least impact on the environment.

"You don't build a house the same way in Florida as you would in Maine," said Mark A. Waring, the vice president of Bain-Waring Builders. "What really is important is efficiency."

The houses he builds under the name Earth Craft House are 50 percent more efficient than a traditional home, he said.

"The greatest conservation is energy," said Waring, who has specialized in energy-efficient homes the past 12 years of his 25-year building career.

Things to look for include tankless hot-water heaters, compact fluorescent lights and EnergyStar appliances.

Taking a whole-house approach is the most important thing, he said.

"You could build an energy-wasting house, then put in bamboo floors. Now, how is that green? Doing the right thing the wrong way is still wrong," he said.

He said it costs about $5,000 more to build a completely energy-efficient home than to build a traditional 2,500-square-foot house. The cost, he said, is about what you would pay to irrigate and sod the yard.

Impressive statements for the yard were on display, as well.

Jim Tilley was presiding over a 1,500-square-foot display his company built that included a pondless waterfall running around a gazebo-covered raised patio and, in the opposite corner, an outdoor fireplace designed to run on gas or wood. It took 22 employees 3½ days to build the display.

On a smaller scale, but no less exciting, is the bathroom renovation Connie Corbett is working on. She was on hand to look for ideas and, possibly, a contractor. She was looking for a way to replace her soaker tub and small shower with a larger shower.

"They have it set up nicely," she said of the show's 425 exhibitors spread across 160,000 square feet. "There's more than enough stuff."

The show, at the Richmond Raceway Complex from Friday through yesterday, drew about 20,000, said show manager Anthony Tedesco.
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