Perhaps more than ever before, consumers are becoming ecologically concerned. With gas and home heating oil prices at all time highs, arctic snow caps that are visibly melting away, and weather patterns that seem unlike any we have ever seen before, Americans are finally starting to understand that everyone has a responsibility to be kind to mother earth.

Ecology-influenced purchasing decisions are common place and varied, affecting everyday purchases such as toasters and other small appliances, to energy purchase options such as buying "green" energy, and now to even the kinds of homes that we are buying.

Many people want homes that are environmentally sound, that conserve energy and use energy wisely, and in some cases that generate their own energy.

National builders and even smaller custom builders are now responding to these consumer demands.

One way to be sure that you are buying an ecologically sound home is to look for the LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a designation created by the U.S. Building Design Council.

This really is a gold seal of approval that provides proof that the home was constructed utilizing up to date environmentally friendly techniques and operating systems. The LEED certification demonstrates that the builder cares about the environment and has built a home that conserves energy resources.

LEED focuses in five areas when evaluating a project to determine if it is worthy of its approval. They are: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Sustainable site selection means picking construction sites that minimize ecological harm and in some cases even provide an overall ecological benefit, such as brownfields redevelopment.

Here, issues such as availability of public transportation, efforts to reduce soil erosion and storm water runoff, as well as light pollution are considered.

Water use reduction concerns design details that limit reliance on drinking water. This includes special landscape designs and other engineering efficiencies that reduce fresh water usage.

Energy efficiency details techniques for reducing energy use and increasing reliance on non traditional fuel sources, such as solar energy. Likewise, material selection involves use of the most pro-environment materials that are available.

The indoor air quality criteria are important for our health. Many new homes provide a lot of harmful indoor pollution. Here, the goal is to reduce this pollution as much as possible. Did you know that indoor pollution can pose a much bigger problem for our health than outdoor air pollution?

Developers need to register projects for evaluation, which costs under one thousand dollars.

Accredited professionals will then grade the project utilizing a point system that takes into account the five basic areas discussed above.

The latest LEED milestone concerns a brand new concept: neighborhood certification. Under this program, jointly designed by the U.S. Building Design Council and other organizations, entire communities are evaluated from the standpoints of smart growth, contemporary urban design concepts and green construction.

We all need to do our share to protect the environment. Finding an LEED certified home or neighborhood is one step that home purchasers can take to keep this world as green as possible.