On the day of his wedding in 2004, Michael Morman decided to go build a house, for Habitat for Humanity. 

“I didn’t tell anybody that I was getting married that day, but a couple of hours after I started, they found out and I went from building trusses to sweeping a broom; I found it to be quite therapeutic,” Morman said.

So began a lasting relationship with his wife, Anne, and Habitat for Humanity. He has to admit that when he runs off to work on another Habitat project, Anne sometimes asks, “Can we work on our habitat house?”

The Mormans’ “habitat house” is part of the story of a committed family man. The Mormans have two sons, and an architect who is determined to demonstrate that sustainable design and construction are practical considerations.

“It just takes like-minded people,” Morman said. “The way I look at it from a professional standpoint is that ethically we should be working toward this goal of sustainability.”

Morman does more than talk the talk. In February 2014, the Morman family moved into a home in Clive that he designed and constructed to show that a sustainable house, complete with a below-the-garage workshop, could be built at a reasonable cost, about $150 per square foot.

They are installing the city’s first residential solar array with the hope of meeting 80 to 90 percent of the home’s power needs.

“But I hope to reach net zero over time; I’ll work to do it via efficiencies,” he said. “One of the things I wanted to show people was that even in today’s dollars, we can build near net 0. I wanted to prove to them that this could happen.”

Morman has been headed toward sustainable living since he helped found Valley High School’s first environmental club. He also played on two state high school championship soccer teams at Valley, one of which also was a national champion.

He does more than kick the sustainability ball around — he does still play soccer, though. In his professional career, Morman has been involved in the design of sustainable public buildings, and points out that prisons may be the most environmentally friendly structures being built these days.

Reasons he’s a forty:

• He helped found  Valley High School’s environmental club.
• He served as event coordinator of the 2014 Combat Hunger event, which raised more than $35,000 for Meals from the Heartland.
• He manages all property related issues for Faith Lutheran Church in Clive.
• He is a member of the Greater Des Moines Partnership sustainability committee.