LOS ANGELES -- ANCHOR INTRODUCTION: America is turning green. More and more people are trying to do what they can for the environment. A Santa Monica home has set a new standard for eco-friendly construction. Elected officials throughout Southern California are already taking notice. It may change the way offices and new homes are built.

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Channel 4's Robert Kovacik steps inside the greenest house in the country, if not the planet.

ROBERT KOVACIK: The home of the future comes with assembly required. Built at a factory in Sante Fe Springs, the two-story, four-bedroom structure was installed in just eight hours. Each prefabricated square foot costs about $250 – 30 percent less than a traditional stick-built site home.

This home is not only good for your wallet, but the planet. Upon completion: 2,500 square feet of the most environmentally friendly construction ever conceived.

STEVE GLENN, FOUNDER OF LIVING HOMES: We are using some things that haven't be used a lot. All the materials you see here are recycled, reclaimed or reused.

ROBERT KOVACIK: Cedar ceilings. Cork floors. Steve Glenn is the forward thinking man behind living homes

STEVE GLENN: It is a healthier home, as well. This paint is going to be less toxic.

ROBERT KOVACIK: You won't breathe smoke from the eco-smart fireplace because there is none. No smoke. No carbon. The denatured alcohol used burns practically pollution free.

Some of the many touches are hard to spot. A rooftop garden not only insulates the house but collects rain water that is stored in a big steel tank under the study. The dining room table is made of recycled newsprint. Solar panels provide half of the home's power. Glenn estimates utility bills save about $1,000 per year. A built-in monitor tracks the energy savings.

STEVE GLENN: It tells us our carbon averted and our money saved. We want people to be trained about being conscious consumers in their homes about power and resources.

ROBERT KOVACIK: This is the very first residence to receive a platinum rating -- the highest -- in the Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

It's also well-suited for its Santa Monica location. A city that uses solar energy to heat a high school swimming pool and power its famous Ferris wheel. Santa Monica residents are following the city's lead and going green too.

GREGORY REITZ, SANTA MONICA GREEN BUILDING ADVISOR: We had an oversold auditorium and standing room only of people coming to hear about a program to put solar on their own roofs.

ROBERT KOVACIK: The city of Los Angeles is catching up to Santa Monica's standards.

ERIC GARCETTI, LA CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: We are already building every single municipal building where it is a police station or a fire station or a library in a LEED-certified, environmentally sensitive way.

ROBERT KOVACIK: But LA City Council President Eric Garcetti says Steve Glenn and his company have now raised the bar for every city and its citizens.

ERIC GARCETTI: Living Home is more than the beginning. It is the goal of where we should be. It has the sort of material we all should be using in all of our buildings.

ROBERT KOVACIK: Even if you want to make your house more eco-friendly duplicating this home is difficult, and Steve Glenn recognizes that. But he says if everyone in the country replaces just one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, it is the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.

Just the first step in thinking green.