Standards Ease Transition to Sustainable Living
Does a home have to be expensive or unusual-looking to live up to current sustainability standards? Not at all, according to two top authorities on green building: the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), both based in Washington. A green home is surprisingly easy to achieve, both organizations insist, as long as you approach the project systematically and make the most of its environmentally friendly features. Also, they stress, going green shouldn’t be regarded as a contest.
&ldquo The fact that I have a darker green [it reaches a higher standard of greenness] home than my neighbor doesn’t mean we shouldn’t both get what we want,&rdquo says Nate Kredich, senior vice president of residential market development in USGBC’s residential group, speaking from his San Diego office. &ldquo To most people, the priority is energy efficiency. For others, it might be indoor air quality, or not having to drive. Here in San Diego, water efficiency is important. Our set of [green building] standards, LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design], is flexible, and you can reach certification in countless ways. Greenhomeguide.com is our consumer interface site, and it tells you all about how to make your home greener.&rdquo
The LEED Green Building Rating System was developed in the late 1990s by the USGBC and is a set of standards for sustainable construction. There’s also LEED-EB for existing buildings, and LEED for Homes. There are four LEED certifications: in rising order of prestige, Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. These are based on a points system by which a builder or owner meets certain prerequisites and gains additional credits through various sustainability efforts.
LEED for Homes is the most rigorous and comprehensive certification currently available, Mr. Kredich says, and it will soon become invaluable when it comes to selling or re-selling a home.
&ldquo LEED for Homes tells you a home is green because someone not attached to the project says it’s green,&rdquo he explains. &ldquo The multiple listings system is increasingly reporting the green nature of the homes advertised, and green homes will gain in value, especially if they cost thousands less per year to operate than non-green homes.&rdquo
The USGBC also offers Regreen (regreenprogram.org), a resource that provides guidelines and case studies to help remodel a kitchen or bathroom, or a complete energy retrofit.
The principles of building green residential product are much the same, whether you’re remodeling, retrofitting, building a single-family house, or developing an apartment building, Mr. Kredich adds.
&ldquo Just pay attention to energy and water efficiency, the indoor air quality, and the materials you use,&rdquo he advises.
The key to building green homes, says Kevin Morrow, Washington-based senior program manager for green buildings projects at the NAHB, is staying abreast of existing technologies, but not so far ahead of code compliance that you’re using practices or materials that are not yet proven. Moreover, how a building performs will depend largely on whether the occupant knows how to make the most of its green features.
&ldquo What’s green in one place might not be green in another because of differences in climate, geography and population,&rdquo he says. &ldquo We’ve developed a set of standards approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI): the National Green Building Standard, published last January. It uses a point accrual process that requires users to achieve baseline scores in six areas [lot and site development, resource efficiency, water, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality and operation/maintenance], plus additional points in areas of the user’s choosing. The intrinsic flexibility allows for the design and construction of homes that are appropriately green for where they sit, whether in Hawaii or Maine. The standard is applicable to single homes or multifamily constructions, renovations, remodels and land development.
&ldquo To maintain ANSI status the standard has to be reviewed and reopened to public comment every five years.&rdquo
New York-based New World Home, a design-build company, provides a house type called New Old Green Modular (NOGM) that consists of modular homes in traditional architectural designs, incorporating state-of-the-art green practices. Co-founders Tyler Schmetterer and Mark Jupiter say their objective is to create a home that saves between 50% and 70% on energy consumption without renewable energy sources. Creating these homes in a factory, they add, allows faster and more economical production.
&ldquo You can get a Platinum LEED-level home that doesn’t look like a rocket ship or cost $500 per square foot,&rdquo Mr. Schmetterer says. &ldquo Modular homes of the past have been uninspired cookie-cutter boxes. We take historically inspired designs and add rigorous green specifications throughout. When a prospective partner or homeowner sets foot in one of our houses, the misconceptions about modular are shattered.&rdquo
&ldquo Our turnaround time is so quick that we don’t have to build ahead of the market,&rdquo adds Mr. Jupiter. &ldquo Our only speculative project is the first model home in a development, and that’s our sales center. We build subsequent houses on demand, and deliver them in 60 to 90 days at a price of $150 to $200 per square foot.&rdquo
But having a green home is only part of the equation, says Mr. Jupiter. Knowing how to live in it is key to a green operation.
&ldquo That involves an educational process: knowing how to control room sensors, changing filters on the HVAC, optimizing all the appliances and energy settings,&rdquo he says. &ldquo None of this is rocket science it’s just a matter of education. People come out of our model centers knowing the difference between not green, green and Platinum LEED.&rdquo
Having a green home is only part of the equation. Knowing how to live in it is key to a green operation.
S. Douglas &ldquo Doug&rdquo Walker, senior vice president of UDR, an apartment REIT, a publicly traded company that develops, buys and owns real estate, based in Highlands Ranch, Colo., says his company decided to focus on green development in the expectation that shareholders and lenders will soon require LEED certification and/or other bona fides, such as the Energy Star rating bestowed by a U.S. government agency.
&ldquo We’re invested in 164 communities, comprising 45,249 residential units, in 10 states plus Washington D.C,&rdquo he says. &ldquo In regards to our business model, we develop properties from the ground up, redevelop existing properties, and acquire and sell apartment communities. We’ve taken a proactive approach when it comes to incorporating green technology into our portfolio. Today, all our new development projects have applied for some level of LEED designation.
&ldquo If we choose to renovate an existing community to make it more energy efficient, we may empty the entire building, retrofit it from top to bottom and re-tenant it, or we might start by working on the common areas that directly reduce our operating expenses. It could be something as simple as adding motion sensors to control the lights, and programmable thermostats. We’re also testing LED lights, which have longer life and more efficient output. One drawback to green products is that prices are high due to short supply. Once manufacturing can match the demand prices are likely to go down and more people can benefit from the products.