"So, tell me," my silver-haired client with a printed copy of my article from janeAnne's Blog on Trends in hand asked, "I have read in Barron's , but I want to know what you, my REALTOR thinks....Is it true that there really is a trend toward green building these days?" She continued by way of explanation, " You see, I am 72 now. I am on a clock. If there's a trend, then maybe there are more green builders around who could help my family and me."
Yes, my friend. There IS a trend toward designing, constructing, and operating high performance "green" buildings. And yes, too, more and more, developers are enrolling in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) classes to learn how to select environmentally responsible locations, reduce the negative impact on natural surroundings and benefit you with a healthier indoor environment. LEED promotes a "whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health:
1)sustainable site development 
2)water savings
3)energy efficiency
4)materials selection
5)indoor environmental quality
"Finally! It's about time," she cheered. "My daughter and I are thrilled.
We have heard about the whole system approach. Could you tell me about the LEED rating system," she continued with a smile. "You see, we were looking into buying a new home where I could have my own quarters and my daughter and husband and the twins all could live.But I didn't quite understand about the LEED rating system the builder mentioned."
The LEED rating system for new LEED for Homes helps builders to implement the seven criteria for creating healthier, greener, more efficient homes and register for LEED certification. Certification meeting prerequisites and performance benchmarks . There are a number of levels builders can achieve. Projects may be are awarded Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification depending on the number of qualifiers they meet.
Resources:
'Wall Street Goes Green, ' Barron's December 2006 serious real estate market shift is gaining energy and momentum because green building is going mainstream
The U.S. Green Building Council
For interesting information about Healthy Built Homes including
the Gold, Silver and Bronze Ratings Scale
click here.
You will also find references to the rating scale at these links on my BLOG:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/22301/What-Makes-Healthy-Built
http://activerain.com/blogsview/18679/Demand-for-Healthy-Built
http://activerain.com/blogsview/33247/What-REALTORS-Do-for
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As a home builder, and member of Active Rain, I want to be open to the ideas, I really do. "Green" can sure mean a lot of things and a rating system may be very helpful in rewarding those that are doing some "green" things but aren't going all the way.
Total "green" building is awful expensive in the short term. I understand and compliment the long term committment. Now we need that authentic American ingenuity to help us bridge the gap between the long term benefit to society and environment and the short term cost in markets where affordability is strained to the breaking point already.
I will follow some of these links and comment back after I've had a chance to digest. Thanks for your committment.
I haven't heard of this yet. Or may be I have and forgot. My mind has been overworked. I think it's quit on me.
Great post though. I am going to follow the links right now.
JaneAnne - we have a brand new library here in Portsmouth and it is gorgeous! It's also one of the first green buildings in New England, as we've been told.
Ann
As a green home builder, I wanted to respond to Steve Dalton's comment that "Total green building is awful expensive in the short term." This statement can be inadvertantly misleading.
True, if you did "Total" -- every single component of a building "green" you could run up a nasty bill. BUT, LEED-H (LEED for homes) and the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) green building programs don't look for you to make everything so "green" that the project is too expensive to attempt. Instead, both programs look for the developer to do the best they can under a point rating system. The more the developer goes green, the higher the rating s/he can achieve. Even under the lowest ratings, a home built under either program is far better built (for efficiency, eco-impact, and home owner health) than a standard built home.
The industry average estimate is that going green only represents an increase of 2-5% of total construction costs. Plus, the expectation is that those costs are offset by the energy savings. To that end, banks will lend additional funds to homebuyers buying green under the EEM (Energy Efficient Mortgage) program on the assumption that lower untility bills will allow the homeowner to be able to afford a higher mortgage payment.
For more information on green building, please visit http://www.sageSTL.com and sign up for the free newsletter. It's targetted primarily to homeowners and Realtors who are interested in getting educated on green home building.
Thanks,
Jason Stone
Sage Homebuilders, LLC
St. Louis, MO
Hi Maggie...Thanks for your comment. Possibly when folks in your neighborhood get wind of the benefits for them...Lower utility bills for heating and cooling .. Improved indoor air quality ... Lasting value.. Lower Environmental Impact...and the media like HGTV (as you mentioned) Discovery Channel ( I LOVE SARA SNOW , her ecipes, and her show, Living Fresh!)and PBS...especially the Edens Lost and Found Series....your market will bloom!
BTW, in a testimonial to Active Rain, and making connections, I wrote about that PBS four-part series called Edens Lost and Found on an earlier piece noting that the PBS audience is about some 80 million people..that's more than the number of folks who smoke....and that one of the teachers featured on the series had contacted me when she found me via AR!
In regards to the cost of green building versus traditional the Barron article is indicating that cost for a basic LEED certification for commercial building is only .08% more than normal construction techniques. If you look at all the other benefits that this type of building brings (higher worker productivity, lower absenteeism, and lower employee turnover) along with lower energy costs, this becomes a no brainer even to the bean counters. It is clear to see why Barron's is saying that is not a future trend, but one that is occurring rapidly throughout the corporate world.
Corporate America does not necessarily have to have a "Green Consciousness" to make these changes happen. When this type of building design makes fiscal and economic sense changing over to green building is inevitable. It's only a question of how fast will it occur.
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Phylena...How did you like the home? Here in Asheville (Buncombe County) North Carolina, we are seeing ahuge surge in demand because of product excellence. Right now there are 22
"green" / NC Healthy Built Homes ready to go. They range in price from $265,000 to about $2M.
There are currently 38 certified HealthyBuilt Homes and 378 "in progress" in the Western North Carolina area.
...The industry average estimate is that going green only represents an increase of 2-5% of total construction costs. Plus, the expectation is that those costs are offset by the energy savings. To that end, banks will lend additional funds to homebuyers buying green under the EEM (Energy Efficient Mortgage) program on the assumption that lower untility bills will allow the homeowner to be able to afford a higher mortgage payment.
I just visited your very classy web site! Jason. As you say...these buildings are "high performance...high design." Great graphic example at the link above.
Jennifer..Oh please let me have the link..and/or post it over at the ECO-friendly GREEN SCENE so that we can find out about green things in your neck of the woods ;-+..better yet..hope you (and others who have commented) will do the same and join us there.
Sami...I really appreciate your perspective...As you say, " A few generations back people thought of building their homes to last for their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's time for us to return to that mental construct. "
Do you find that your clients are getting this sense, too?
Thanks for the post. I became an EcoBroker arond the first of the year. I found it to be the obvious connection with my old life in holistic health and the one I started almost two years ago in real estate. My non-AR blog is ValueAndComfort.com, with the thought that greater value and comfort can be had with green real estate.
Sami~
You're an Eco Certified professional...so when you tell me, " Now the concept of building 'green' has gathered enough momentum to be accepted by the building developers on a wider scale. Hip Hip Hurrah! " I', listening!! and adding 3 cheers.
Bruce~
Good point: You commented, " ...greater value and comfort can be had with green real estate." THAT is a concept many folks these days are catching on to...