Special Builder Feature: Greener Pastures |
Building a sustainable and energy-efficient home is easier than you might think—and more important than you might imagine. So why aren't you doing it? Into its own By any standard of measurement, green building is hot. As oil hovers around $100 a barrel, interest in conservation and energy efficiency has come to dominate the consciousness of the average American consumer. Green building has now spilled over into the residential world as well. According to the NAHB, 14,600 green homes were built in 2004, up from 2,500 in 2000. In addition to using state and local green building programs that have cropped up over the years, builders can certify their homes through voluntary national programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or Masco Contractor Services' Environments for Living program. They can also build green using the NAHB's Green Home Building Guidelines or the EPA's Energy Star program. These programs offer guidelines on how builders can improve their homes' site development, energy efficiency, and overall sustainability. Despite its increasing popularity, however, green building remains a complicated topic that often leaves builders scratching their heads. What exactly is green building? What does building a green house entail? What does it cost to build green? And what are the minimum features a house must have before it can be considered green? A flexible recipe According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, a green (or sustainable) building is a structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Such a building saves water and energy, conserves natural resources, uses salvaged materials or products made with a high recycled content, and reduces its overall impact on the environment, among other things. “Everyone has their individual opinions about what are the necessary and essential ingredients to make a house green,” says Margo Thompson, research associate at the NAHB Research Center, in Upper Marlboro, Md. “There are a lot of different ways to slice it.” Indeed. For example: Is it better to use wood from sustainably harvested and renewable trees or a longer-lasting, man-made product that requires a fair amount of energy to manufacture? Wood siding lasts 25 years or more but requires more maintenance; the synthetic product requires less maintenance and can last 40 years. Or how about this: Say a builder uses bamboo flooring instead of oak. Bamboo is a rapidly renewable grass, which saves old-growth trees, but it is primarily manufactured in Asia and thus has to be shipped halfway around the world to reach U.S. builders, using fossil fuels in the process. “All-or-nothing green is good, but it's just not practical,” says Jennifer L. Languell, president of Trifecta Construction Solutions, a company that helps builders realize the benefits of green building and sustainability. “You have to define what green means to you.” Languell says she usually informs her builder clients about the components of green construction and advises them to set benchmarks they want to achieve. “I ask them what they're interested in and what message they want to send [about their homes],” she says. “Is it health, high performance, energy efficiency?” She then tells builders their options and looks at strategies for achieving their goals. |