Sure, we greenies can sit around in our solar-powered cafes talking about straw bale this and graywater that. But when a mongo trade group like the National Association of Home Builders says green is the new sexy, you know something big is afoot.

Maybe it's no wonder, then, that a recent survey by the NAHB and McGraw Hill Construction, which publishes construction industry news and analysis, found a 20 percent increase in 2005 in the number of builders focusing on green materials and practices. They're predicting another 30 percent increase for 2006, growing to a $38 billion green-building industry by 2010.

Hoping, of course, to jump on the Lime-like bandwagon, McGraw Hill recently launched a new sustainability-centered web site for architects, builders, designers and the like called GreenSource. (No word on whether there'll be a sexy green personals site as well.)

If you don't own your own drafting table or hardhat, here's a list of green building programs by community.