Finally, we get it. Conserving resources. Saving energy. Living lightly on the Earth. These days, even million-dollar-plus homes are built green. But being at one with nature doesn’t mean being invisible. Many homes on this year’s Parade of Homes show that finally, we see — green can be gorgeous.

This year, the 26th year that the Home Builders Association of Durham Orange and Chatham Counties has organized a Parade of Homes, builders have opened 59 homes for the public’s free viewing. Prices on the houses range from budge-fitter to budget-buster. Many reflect consumers’ growing awareness that natural resources shouldn’t be squandered.

In Orange County, a few minutes’ drive west of Carrboro, the founders of Solar Tech South have begun a green-conscious subdivision. Each of its 18 lots is named for a different tree. The house on the 2-acre Butternut parcel has features typical of what every house in the community built by Hampton Green Homes will have.

Solar is standard on all of the home plans. The water warmed through solar thermal panels set discreetly on the rear section of the roof will provide at least 75 percent of the home’s hot water. Heat from the sun is energy the homeowner won’t have to purchase from the power company and won’t be taxed by the federal and state governments. About half of the cost of the solar system can be written off as a tax credit.

Icynene spray-foam insulation, a green-approved product, seals the crawl space and the attic, which can cut heating and cooling bills in half. The house can remain comfortable with a smaller, high-efficiency HVAC system. HardieShingle fiber cement shake siding clads the exterior. The siding requires less frequent painting and qualifies the home to be insured at the less expensive masonry rate.

A creek edges the development, and a walking trail encircles it. The land is situated in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district and is far enough outside of town to see shooting stars but close enough that a trip to the grocery store is a 5-minute drive.

The 4,450-square-foot home sells for $1,050,000.

Urban living can be green, too. Buyers are beginning to move in to East 54, a cluster of condominiums developed by East West Partners in Chapel Hill, one of the few projects in the nation to complete Stage 2 certification at the gold level in LEED neighborhood development. Gold is the middle ranking of the three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design options set by the U.S. Green Building Council.

While the neighborhood is gold, the condominiums are green. Buyers have the option of bamboo flooring -- considered a renewable resource, given how fast bamboo grows -- and countertops made from recycled glass. Anyone who has ever left home only to wonder whether he turned the iron off will appreciate the special wiring that allows the flip of one switch to cut the power off or on at once throughout the condo. A wall of energy-efficient windows stretches from the floor to the top of the 12-foot ceilings.

The condo open to Parade-goers is a 1,600-square-foot model with two bedrooms and a den, and balconies off the master bedroom and living room that overlook Finley Golf Course. The home’s list price of $795,000 factors in the many amenities of the development. Each condo has one parking space per bedroom and a storage cage in a secure, underground parking garage. Homeowners and their guests can enjoy the rooftop outdoor pool and patio and the indoor fitness center with state-of-the-art exercise equipment that has Internet access. You can check your e-mail while on the stair machine.

The condo is within walking distance of two grocery stores, and the restaurants and shops at Meadowmont can be reached on foot through a walkway that runs underneath the highway. The East 54 complex will soon have restaurants shops as well. About six miles of walking trails are accessible steps away from the complex, quite literally a green feature.

Even those homes that seem to single-handedly keep the real estate market afloat have embraced green features. Bost Custom Homes, best-of-the-best winner in years past, has built another beauty in The Hills of Rosemont. This one, nearly 7,500 square feet on a 6-acre lot, listed for about $2.3 million before it sold. Its energy-efficient and resource-conservation details were as well-thought-out as the design aesthetics.

Builder Rex Bost installed a rainwater harvesting system, collecting rainwater into a closed cistern at the back of the property that is then cycled back for use in watering the grounds, filling the fountain, topping off the pool and flushing the toilets. This reduces the demand on community water by about 80 percent. He had wanted to incorporate this system in a luxury home he built two years ago but learned that state law prevented him from doing so. He led the charge to change the code so this ecologically sound practice could be used. The new law was passed recently, just in time for Bost to incorporate the rainwater system in his Parade entry.

As for the house itself, the roof consists of Monier concrete tiles to last a lifetime. Underneath, the roof is lined in Grant Thermoblock sheathing to reduce heat loss in the cold months by about 30 percent and prevent nearly all of the heat from the sun from soaking in during the summer. Bost sealed the crawl space at the base of the house and installed a high-efficiency Carrier HVAC system with a 14 SEER rating on the air conditioning and a 16 on the heat pumps.

The interior stairs are constructed of eucalyptus, a fast-growing wood that looks like walnut but grows like bamboo. Mechanical timers control the fountain out front and the outlet under each window, a design detail with holiday lights in mind.

Out back, near the recessed patio, the amoeba-shaped pool features a beach entry and is filled with saltwater, which reduces the amount of chemicals needed to keep it pristine. The planking on the second-story deck off the master bedroom is made of Trex, a durable blend of recycled plastic and reclaimed wood.

All of this and a floor plan that includes his-and-hers garages (four bays in all), an elevator shaft with long transom windows so the elevator never feels closed in, and drains and spigots in the garage so you can wash the cars in air-conditioned comfort.

That’s a smart house. Nancy E. Oates is a business and real estate writer in Chapel Hill. Reach her at neoates@earthlink.net.