The Green Life

25 year old Carencro architect Stephen Ortego is working to build the first LEED certified home in Acadiana. In fact, he's hoping to create a whole green neighborhood. According to Carencro City Council minutes, he's been attending meetings to discuss his "La Vie Verte" (The Green Life) project. The house he's working on now is planned to be a model home for the rest of the project. In order for a structure to be recognized as LEED certified, it must meet a host of requirements including improved energy efficiency, air quality, and water efficiency. Here's a link to the US Green Building Council outlining full certification requirements.

Ortego is a pretty interesting guy - he recently finished working on Brad Pitt's housing project in New Orleans, he went through Hurricane Katrina TWICE (in Florida and Louisiana) and he ran for District 39 State Representative in 2007 when he was just 23 years old. Jason Brown of The Advocate has a full feature story on Ortego and his LEED house.