Green Building Trends | |
 | The survey asked builders if it is harder to build green. Overall 55 percent of the respondents said yes; 45 percent said no. When asked in what way typical building processes are disrupted when implementing green building techniques, cost increases were at the top of the list, specified by 68 percent of respondents, with 59 percent citing confusion with the different green building standards such as LEED for Homes; NAHB's guidelines; and those from manufacturers, utility companies and regional and local governments. It takes longer to source products, according to 47 percent of respondents, while 44 percent said |
| there is a need to educate municipalities about energy-efficient products or construction techniques. And 40 percent said it takes longer to spec products. A nominal 13 percent said typical builder processes are not interrupted when implementing green building techniques. The number of respondents who said they market some or all of their homes as green is 57 percent, compared with 43 percent who said they do not market their homes as green at all. Going back to the question, “Is it harder to build green?” those who said they market all of their homes as green are less likely to think green building is harder, but surprisingly not by a huge number; 47 percent said it's harder and 53 percent said it's not. So the perceived challenge of building green has not discouraged that 47 percent from forging ahead and marketing all homes they build that way. Just how prevalent is green building among the respondents? The survey asked, “How would you rate the majority of the houses built, designed or engineered by your firm? On a scale where one means “have used no green materials/practices” and 10 means “have maximized use of green materials/practices, more than half of respondents — 58 percent — rated themselves fair to midland, at 4, 5, 6 or 7. Eleven percent of all respondents said they have maximized use, giving themselves a 9 or 10. | |
| A key question of the survey was, “Is green building a fad?” 70 percent of respondents somewhat or strongly disagreed with that statement, saying it is not a fad. Should there be a minimum standard of performance and sustainability before a builder can market a home as green? 87 percent of those surveyed said yes. The survey compared the ease of use and reliability of some of the better known green certification programs. The Energy Star program ranked very or somewhat easy to use by 70 |  |
percent of respondents, way ahead of the 46 percent who said utility company programs are somewhat or very easy to use. NAHB and manufacturer programs fall in the middle range, with 44 and 42 percent respectively favoring their ease of use. At the bottom of the choices given were the LEED for Homes program at 23 percent and local or state building programs such as EarthCraft and Austin Energy Green Building at 24 percent. | |
| For each of the 21 features respondents chose from, the survey asked approximately how many of the houses built, designed or engineered by their company in the last 12 months included that feature. Energy-efficient windows came out way ahead of the pack, with 76 percent saying they were incorporated into all the homes they built. Somewhat behind but in second place was a high-efficiency HVAC system, included in all homes built by 57 percent of respondents. Energy-efficient appliances, at 47 percent, came in third; enhanced insulation came in at 49 percent; and air-sealing packages to reduce infiltration rounded out the top five features at 49 percent. |  |
| Air leaks account for 40 percent of the energy loss. Therefore, Insulation and Air-Sealing are at the heart of Green Building programs. They may be looked upon as two separate aspects of building design but building science experts consider them to be one system. Insulation's R-value is compromised if a home is not properly air-sealed. There is a need for both insulation and an air barrier for a tight building envelope. Icynene® insulation is an ASTM qualified air barrier that meets both the requirements of Green Building. As a dual performing material, Icynene® helps reduce air infiltration and saves up to 50% of energy costs allowing Builders to achieve stringent Green Building Certifications such as LEED for Homes and NGBS. Though defining and refining green is a process that will go on for a while, builders are moving forward in finding out how they can provide the green construction their clients want and the market demands. For complete survey results click here. To contact an Icynene Licensed Dealer in your area click here. | |