What Is a Green Home, Anyway?

The right definition can ease financial worries

NAHB predicts that by 2010, roughly 10 percent of home starts will be green. While that means green homes are still a niche product, that niche is quickly going mainstream. In fact, the explosion of green products and services at this year's IBS proves that product manufacturers see the green market as a potential gold mine.

But not everyone shares their enthusiasm.

Some builders say that green hype has fueled buyer angst over potentially higher home costs. "Green scares some people," admits Donna Shirey, CEO of Shirey Contracting in Issaquah, Wash., a builder that has embraced green construction practices. "Some customers think it means extra money. We explain that it's an opportunity to provide great construction practices with environmental responsibility."

One reason builders misunderstand the expectations of green building is the lack of firm agreement over the definition of green.

"How to define green is the big argument in the industry right now," says Cati O'Keefe, editor-in-chief of Green Builder magazine, who has talked with many builders who would like to position themselves as green but are afraid that doing so will put their books in the red. Her advice: "Calm down. It's really not that big of a hurdle." She says that builders who label their homes green define the term in a variety of ways.

Green building is really about quality and durability, things that have always been hallmarks of good builders. In fact, industry experts say that a builder who already makes quality and durability a priority is already practicing green. "I tell builders that you can build green or you can build wrong," says Carl Seville, a former builder whose Atlanta-based Seville Consulting trains builders nationwide on green building practices. "Building green is building right."

Seville says that any definition of a green home should include four components: energy efficiency; good indoor air quality (clean, fresh air at the proper humidity); construction resource efficiency (it uses fewer resources to build than a conventional home); and low maintenance costs. "There are degrees to being green, but the core of it consists of things you should already be doing. A basic level of green should be everyone's standard."

A lot of builders — from small custom operations to large tract builders — seek third-party certification. "We have built entire communities in Las Vegas and many homes elsewhere throughout the country that conform to green building standards such as the NAHB National Green Building program or the Built Green program," says Pulte spokesperson Melanie Hearsch. She says there are more than 40 local organizations nationwide offering degrees of green building certification and that the company is exploring different programs in different markets.

The simplest way for builders to ease into green is by getting their homes ENERGY STAR®-certified. This accreditation is available to homes that are 15 percent more efficient than code minimums. The brand is well-known, with more than 750,000 homes certified in the past seven years. It's also easy to understand and follow — and for a builder already building relatively efficient homes, getting certified could be as simple as using a more efficient cooling system or better windows. Seville says that a good green baseline for builders is the ENERGY STAR rating, with the addition of water conservation and indoor air quality allowances. Builders can gradually add other green practices that make sense for their business.

Starting with energy savings also helps calm customer anxiety over cost. In another survey by NAHB and McGraw Hill Construction, more than 60 percent of green home buyers said they were motivated by the promise of lower energy bills and maintenance costs. As green construction becomes mainstream, providing those rewards is becoming an expectation.


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