A solar saltbox?

Habitat for Humanity, long known for its charitable work building homes with donated labor and materials, has joined the environmental movement with construction of its first certifiably "green" house in the state.

The energy-efficient, saltbox-style home in Plymouth will be certified by the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program, according to Habitat for Humanity spokeswoman Katie Evans.

The house has been nicknamed the "solar saltbox," according Stephen P. Dyer, cochairman of the construction committee.

The photovoltaic cells will "on a really good day, generate in excess of 100 percent of energy," said Dyer. "On a bad day, they'll generate about 30 to 50 percent."

Either way, the new homeowner - Jacqueline Scarpino, who has three school-age children - can look forward to "paying one-tenth of what she's currently paying for energy," said Dyer.

Habitat has built several LEED-certified homes in California, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. "There are many other projects that are in the early stages and are not listed as of yet," said Evans, in an e-mail.

Read the rest of this Globe South story by Emily Sweeney here.