Reduce, reuse and recycle. Then, build a more than $200,000home.

Environmentalism is stronger than ever, strong enough that GreenAcres LLC, a group of Brookhaven businessmen, united last year tobegin work on the first “green” house in Mississippi, which theyrecently completed and showcased to more than 100 people at an openhouse event Sunday.

The two-story, four-bedroom house at 597 Sams Road, off Highway550, was constructed from the ground up with “green” materials andwas built to be both environmentally and economically friendly.Everything in the house and on the grounds, from pre-insulatedwalls to state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems – to even theacre it sits on – is designed to reduce costs.

“I think it’s the wave of the future,” said Project ManagerRicky Salyer. “Saving energy and getting use out of all the spaceyou can.”

Salyer said the 2,000 square-foot house is predicted to requireapproximately $100 per month for heating and cooling, no matter thetime of year. It accomplishes this low-cost feat by being almost100 percent air tight, using the highest-quality materials, windowsand even foundation.

The house is insulated with Structured Insulated Panels, a typeof pre-manufactured insulation that’s already in the walls at thetime of construction. Salyer said the panels contain no air pocketswhatsoever.

“Even the roofline is made with the same type panels, so nowherein the house is there any pink insulation,” he said. “You only haveto fill in where they join together, which you fill in with anexpandable foam.”

The panels, in conjunction with airtight doors and Pellawindows, means that the air in the house stays heated and cooled.The house is so airtight, Salyer said outside air has to becontinually circulated inside the house and conditioned. Theconstant flow of air eliminated the possibility for mold and mildewto build up, he said.

“It becomes one of the most environmentally clean houses you canbuy,” Salyer said. “We’re heating that entire house with onetwo-ton unit, but the house is designed to where if you did notwant to run the heating and cooling unit, there will be a naturaldraft from the back window to the front window.”

Salyer said the house was so airtight that an Energy Starinspector had to recalibrate his equipment when testing the house’sairflow.

“There is literally zero leakage,” he said.

Furthermore, the interior walls are completely solid, meaninghomeowners won’t have to look for studs to hang pictures, Salyersaid.

The outside of the house is also unique. Though it appears to bebricked, the exterior walls are actually constructed with locking,concrete “briks,” also recyclable. The interlocking pieces screwinto the wall, require no mortar and actually add 35 percent morestability to the structure, Salyer said. He said the house couldwithstand winds in excess of 160 mph, and could possibly survive200 mph winds.

The house’s foundation is another strongpoint. The concretefoundation is covered with a layer of metal that folds over theedges and extend into the ground to a depth of two feet, lockingmoisture and insects out. Insulation was installed between the slaband its metal cover.

“There’s practically no way an insect can go through thefoundation of the house to get inside,” Salyer said. “Plus, theslab stays at a constant temperature much more so than a normalslab because of the extra insulation that went down before we everput a wall up.”

Green Acres also filled the house with the latest in hometechnology. It uses an energy-saving water heater that feeds hotand cold water to each individual faucet in the house via amanifold system. There are no pipes running through the house.

“If there is a problem in any part of the house, if you’re notusing a particular room, you can just have those cut off,” Salyersaid. “If there is a problem, it’s very easy to find.”

The environmental soundness of the house extends beyond thewalls and out onto the grounds. The 1.09 acres of land where thehouse was built is composed of 18 inches of topsoil with a layer ofhard clay beneath, Salyer said, which makes the land retain waterand eliminate the need for any kind of irrigation or a sprinklersystem. And when it rains too much, the land naturally sheds isexcess water into a nearby pond the builders named Angel Lake.

Salyer said the ultimate goal of the $215,000 “green” house isto give the homeowner more disposable income. Beside the lowheating and cooling costs, he said the home’s owner would benefitfrom available tax credits, and could utilize even more credits byinstalling Energy Star appliances.

“Whether any of us like it or not, we’re in pretty tougheconomic times,” Salyer said. “We’ve got to look for any measure toput disposable income back in the homeowner’s pocket. The YGeneration is not as concerned as my generation has been with a lotof land – they don’t want upkeep, they want a weekend. They want anice place to stay, and they want it as cost effectively as theycan. The overall trend, whether it’s Mississippi or California, isto go the green way.”

The house is undoubtedly state-of-the-art, clean and efficient,but the challenge is selling it against normally constructed,cheaper homes.

“This is a brand new concept, so we’re trying to market it as abrand new concept,” said Sherry Davis of Joyce Asken Realty. “Thebig draw about this house is it’s going to save the homeowner moneyin the long run. It costs a little more to build, but you get yourmoney back.”

The house is definitely futuristic, but it will one day beremembered as an important part of the past. Salyer said theUniversity of Mississippi has archived the entire project, storingmaterial and even scratch paper from the project.

Salyer hopes to build 21 more “green” homes on the site,depending on how well the first one sells. The next homes, he said,would be slightly smaller – 1,700 square feet – and cheaper.