Going Green is gaining popularity in America. Now, the trend is spreading to Northwest Missouri, where a Maryville man is making it his side job to make people Green "believers" one house at a time.

Danny Burns isn't a home builder by design, he's a veterinarian, but his passion for energy efficiency has led him down a different road, building energy efficient homes. "I've always been interested in construction," Burns said, "And I have helped design a lot of pig buildings and here again there are a lot of utilities used in those pig buildings, so efficiency is also important there."

Over the last year, Burns has been moonlighting with a construction crew and several local subcontractors, building his first two cutting-edge, Energy Star-rated homes. Burns explained, "The calculations that we've done is showing we should have somewhere between a 36 and 40 percent energy savings."

Driving past any of these homes in the Scouts Ridge subdivision, Burns says you won't notice anything different from the  outside. He says the real differences are found when you look at a utility bill.

"If you take one of these energy efficient homes and you're going to run it 80 degrees all winter, your utility bill is going to be high. But, if you took the same home and run it 80 degrees and you didn't have these efficiencies built in, it'd be three times as high," Burns said.

One of the biggest changes in an Energy Star home is the insulation. Danny's home uses 6 inch thick foam instead of fiberglass. He says this cuts down on air infiltration. "I think it's very important to understand air infiltration and I think it's very important to understand different types of insulation. Insulation is key," Burns said.

Danny isn't just a builder . He's also a believer. He built his own energy efficient home more than 10 years ago. "30-year homes no big deal, you take 30 years and you're getting a third of your utility bills cut. If you're paying $600 a month, that means it goes to four and that makes house payments," Burns claimed.

Danny says his Energy Star homes cost no more than any other home. They also take no longer to build. But the pay off could happen in the future when you sell your home with an Energy Star seal.