Home improvement Store Dallas

While many make the analogy with Whole Foods, Ballard gets his inspiration from Tesla, which he said took “electric cars from being slow, small and ugly to being fast, comfortable and sexy.”

“We have to succeed in helping to make homes safe but still beautiful and comfortable, ” he said. “That’s the reason we have a house in the first place.”

Dallas architect Buchanan said many people are also motivated by energy savings:A 4, 000-square-foot home that he designed was recently completed in Dallas, and the monthly electric and gas bills combined are under $200.The house next door is smaller and has a monthly bill of more than $1, 000, he said.

Residential solar panels have fallen by half or more in price since 2007, making them affordable for regular homeowners, said Barbara Kessler, editor of EcoBayou.com. “And rain catchment has become more popular with gardeners for outside irrigation especially since the drought.”

Also, much has changed from a health standpoint, Buchanan said. Manufacturers are selling low VOC — for volatile organic compounds — paint and carpet, which emit fewer gases that can hurt people with asthma and allergies, he said. “It’s time for more ideas to be mainstreamed.”

Kessler believes the timing is right for a store to present the growing number of products and projects available.

“People are better informed about the unhealthy effects of toxic building materials and also want to reduce their dependence on finite fossil fuels, ” Kessler said.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

BY THE NUMBERS

From 2015 to 2018, annual green building construction spending in the U.S. is projected to increase 15 percent a year, reaching $224.4 billion in 2018.

In Texas for the same period:

*Green construction is expected to have a direct impact of more than $32 billion on the state’s economy, almost double the total of the previous four years.

*Green buildings will directly impact 426, 000 jobs in Texas and contribute more than $27 billion in income to the state’s workers.