CERTIFIED Green Home/Building Experience
LaVerne Williams, AIA, LEED AP, is certified as a LEED Accredited Professional and an original member of the Austin Green Building Program.
Richard Rivera, LEED AP, is certified as a LEED Accredited Professional.
The Austin Green Building Program is the premier local US green building program that provides third-party verifications of green buildings in the Austin Texas area. It pioneered the entire green building certification movement and is the premier local green building program in the U.S.
LEED is an internationally recognized green building program by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that provides independent third-party verifications of green buildings. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is the premier national and international green building program.
The Living Building Challenge is pioneering the certification of truly sustainable buildings (that is, as close as they can become sustainable while still allowing some use of fossil fuels for their construction and for user transportation while strongly encouraging the phasing out of fossil fuel use). LaVerne is a Living Building Program Ambassador.
Environment Associates is the very first Houston entity to complete a certified LEED Platinum project of any building type anywhere on the planet! Tonalacalli, the House of Sun and Water, is also the first double award LEED/5 Star home, the first certified LEED Home and the first certified LEED Platinum building project completed in Austin, Texas, the birthplace of green building programs. www.FirstAustinLeedHome.com
Williams’s work help craft the internationally renowned Austin Green Building Program, the only US pro-ecology effort honored at the international 1992 Earth Summit. The Austin Green Building Program, the first in the world, is the prototype for all US and International green building programs.
Green homes being built by Houston’s Habitat for Humanity’s are patterned upon a study of LaVerne’s work for Habitat by Houston’s renowned Think Tank, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC).
- Tonalacalli, the House of Sun & Water, Austin – Five Star Award, Austin Green Building Program; US Green Building Council (USGBC) certified Platinum LEED-H
- Ultra Healthy Home, Austin – Five Star Award, Austin Green Building Program
- Sky Fire on North Fork Residence, Hunt – USGBC certified Silver LEED-H, first LEED home in the Texas Hill Country
- The Wareloft, Houston – USGBC certified Silver LEED-H, featured on the Mayor’s Green Building Tour and National Solar Tour three times
- Hilberg residence, Cypress, Texas – USGBC certified Platinum LEED-H
- Sakowitz Street Project, Houston – Houston’s first USGBC certified Platinum LEED-H SRO project by Val Glitsch, FAIA architect: Consultant
- Virginia Street project – Houston’s first USGBC certified Platinum LEED-H: Consultant
- Rohn Residence – Houston’s first USGBC certified Gold LEED-H: Consultant
Prior to the origination of green building certification programs, green homes LaVerne designed number in the hundreds, plus influenced countless others, including remodeling projects and numerous 100% completely passively cooled and heated attached greenhouses. Decades ago, these homes proved that cost effective, environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, healthful homes were not only possible, but were actually being built. His work and the work of a few others nationwide resulted in green building programs being formed to spread the good news and the how-to design and construction technologies that work!
Click here to learn more about the award-winning homes.
Click here to see our current LEED registed homes underconstruction.