PORTLAND -- For Pat Roma, a carpentry student at Portland Arts and Technology High School, it makes sense to learn how to build an energy-efficient house.

"It saves on energy costs and it helps the environment," Roma said. "Probably, sooner or later, everything's going to be built this way."

The regional vocational school, which serves students from 23 high schools, is reinvigorating its carpentry program this year with a green home-building curriculum developed by Frank Kehough.

Kehough's students are building what he hopes will be the school's first LEED-certified house, using materials and techniques that meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

It's the first house that PATHS has produced in five years -- a lull that Kehough attributes to a decline in carpentry students. He hopes his revamped carpentry program will tap growing interest in green construction and help reverse that trend.

"It's going to be where the jobs are," said Kehough, a Limerick resident who worked in the construction industry for three decades before becoming a teacher at PATHS five years ago.

Kehough's students are building the house for Marilyn Doe of Gorham, who plans to use it as a vacation home in Denmark, near Bridgton, on a wooded lot that's a few miles from Moose Pond and Shawnee Peak.

Doe has agreed to pay $17,300 for materials to build the 572-square-foot house, which includes a kitchen/living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. The basement will include two bedrooms and a bathroom.

Charging more for the house would be difficult, Kehough said, because untrained high school students are building it. Plumbing students will install the kitchen, bathroom and heating fixtures.

Electricians on PATHS' maintenance staff will install the wiring because the school has no electrical students, Kehough said. Masonry and welding students are enlarging the door to the carpentry garage so this house and others can be built indoors and taken out easily.

Kehough has 17 carpentry students this year. When they're not working on the house, they're building storage sheds that help them develop basic carpentry skills.

Kehough designed his green building curriculum when he was studying for a bachelor's degree in applied technology education, which he received two years ago from the University of Southern Maine.

In October, Kehough took several students to the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., where 20 university-led teams competed to design, build and operate the most attractive and efficient solar-powered home.

Roma, a Deering High School senior who plans to study construction management after he graduates, said he learned a lot at the decathlon.

"It was a cool thing to see," said Roma, who found some designs more attractive than others.

Later this year, Kehough plans to take his students on field trips to green construction sites, including the Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland and a home that's being built by Dan Kolbert, a contractor in Falmouth who specializes in LEED-certified houses.

Several individuals and companies, including Kolbert, are helping Kehough develop his green building program by providing services or materials at reduced or no cost. Others are Paradigm Windows, Horizon Residential Energy Services Maine, Keiser Modular Homes, Kaplan Thompson Architects and Fore Solutions.

"This project is a great opportunity because the LEED rating system is a great teachable guide to green building," said Jay Waterman, a consultant for Fore Solutions, which has experts in green building and LEED certification.

Waterman said interest in green building is skyrocketing. His firm attended an international conference on green building in Phoenix last week that attracted 28,000 people and featured Al Gore as the keynote speaker.

"Builders are realizing, if they're not using green building techniques, they're missing a growing market out there," Waterman said, including many public projects that require green materials and practices.

Kehough is seeking additional help, including contributions of high-quality building materials that will help ensure the project's LEED certification. He's also seeking cash donations to cover $3,500 in fees related to the certification process. He has raised about half that amount.

The added effort and cost are worth it, Kehough said, because he's confident that his students are learning skills that will help them get jobs and reduce energy use. His students are confident, too.

"We're learning to use building materials that are good for the environment," said Mariah Seeley, a sophomore at South Portland High School. "We'll know what we're doing when we get out of here."