"Residential is about to happen," said David Pratt, a principal in the Lorax Partnership consulting firm and president of the Baltimore chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Solar energy is catching on faster for commercial buildings because it is more cost-effective there, though, he said, if it could be made more cost-effective for houses, it could become mainstream.

 
On a related note, The New York Times has a story today about green education programs for homebuilders, who have been much slower than commercial builders to embrace such construction techniques, and not just where solar is involved. The Times notes General Electric’s “ecomagination home builder program," which is "one of several new programs":

Demand for green housing has been growing — 46 percent of buyers would like a green home, according to an August report by the National Association of Realtors on home buyers’ preferences — but supplies are limited. Yet only 2 percent of existing American homes contain green features, like energy-efficient windows, according to an October report by the McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group. And many of those homes are either high-end apartment buildings or low-income residences.