Green Summary
Building green results in a better house that improve the lives of the people
who live in them, not to mention the health of our planet.
Our built environment is changing the world significantly and, it would seem, irrevocably.
Global climate change and the steady depletion of essential natural resources are
making the news. More devastating natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in
2005, and painfully high energy costs may be an inevitable part of our future, and
residential construction is partly to blame. More than a million single-family homes
are built every year in the United States alone. All of those houses consume an
inordinate amount of natural resources and energy. Maybe that’s why green building
seems to be taking root, not as a passing fancy but as a fundamental change in how
and why we build the houses we live in.
What we alternately call green building or sustainable building is a way for people
to make a positive difference in the world around them—if not reversing, then at
least reducing the impact of humankind on the planet. Not coincidentally, it ahs
its own practical rewards on a scale that all of us can immediately understand.
If becoming model citizens of Planet Earth is too much to get our arms around, living
in healthier, more comfortable houses that are less expensive to operate and last
longer is certainly an attractive idea. Who wouldn’t want to participate in something
like that?
In essence, that’s what green building is about. It’s not a scorecard where we rack
up the number of recycled building materials we use, nor is it a requirement to
buy a roof’s worth of solar panels or put a wind generator up in the backyard. Green
building might include some or all of these things, but it’s a lot more than that.
Green building is a systematic approach that covers every step of design and construction
from land use and site planning to materials selection, energy efficiency, and indoor
air quality.
Green is no longer on the fringe. Green is hot. Demand for green
building had outpaced supply by as early as 2007 as home buyers looked for greater
energy efficiency. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) now believes
we’ve reached the tipping point when half or more of its members are incorporation
green features into the homes the build.
Green building shows every sign of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy: The more
people are exposes to the benefits of green homes, the more green homes will be
built. Coast-to-coast, the home-buying public is asking for green features from
their architects and builders.
There are several myths that need to be explained and understood:
Myth #1 – Green Building is for Treehuggers
Yes, committed environmentalists do like green building. But green building is not
for extremists. It’s going mainstream. According to an estimate from the Environmental
Home Center in Seattle, the overall market for sustainable building materials is
about $20 billion a year, and it’s expected to grow more than 10% annually. That
makes it big business.
Why are a growing number of consumers buying into green building? Rising energy
prices are certainly a big reason. Consumers are beginning to realize that sustainably
built houses mean lower heating and cooling costs.
Health is another major reason: Our health and well-being are notable affected by
the large amount of time we spend indoors. According to the American College of
Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, more than 38% of Americans suffer from allergies.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the number of asthma cases grew
by 75% from 1980 to 1994—to more than 17 million.
Since when is saving money and enjoying good health an issue for any particular
cultural or political minority?
Myth #2 – Green Building is Too Expensive
Some green building components do cost more. But many cost less. When thing green
is part of the initial planning process, it’s easier and less expensive to incorporate
features that significantly lower operating and maintenance costs.
For example, passive solar design coupled with high-performance insulation can make
a conventional furnace or boiler unnecessary. Orienting a house to take advantage
of solar energy does not in itself cost a penny more than standard construction.
Adding a few windows and investing in insulation does cost money, but the rewards
on the other side of the ledge are far more substantial, initially and over the
life of the house.
Many builders have found that the real cost is in learning new techniques. Products
themselves are becoming more readily available and more affordable as major manufacturers
develop new lines to meet consumer demand.
Myth #3 – Green Building is Ugly
Green buildings do not have to look like yurts. True, a yurt can have its own beauty,
but understandably not everyone wants to live in one. Uniformity or plainness of
design is one factor that hampered wider acceptance of alternative building practices
back in the 1970s (let’s face it, some of those houses were just plain ugly).
But a green home can look like any other house: modern, southwest, ranch—you name
it. Even on the inside, green homes can be just as varied in design,
just as stunning, as any conventional home.
On another level, green buildings are inherently more beautiful because builders
and homeowners take the time to understand how the house works and what materials
will work better than conventional products. Reclaimed wood, recycled glass, certified
lumber—the list of beautiful green materials is very long indeed.
Myth #4 – Green Building Doesn’t Work
The list of consumer concerns about how well a green building works is long: “The
low-flow showerheads leak.” “Bamboo flooring warps easily.” “Zero-VOC paint doesn’t
cover walls as well as the paint I’ve always used.” “Compact fluorescent lights
give off a weird bluish glare.” Some complaints have been justified, but these concerns
tend to focus on exceptions rather than on the big picture.
In general, sustainably built houses tend to be more energy efficient, more durable,
and less costly to maintain. That said, some green products have had quality issues.
But keep in mind that conventional products have also had quality concerns, not
to mention unacceptable effects on our health and the environment.
Many green products were designed to do something better than a conventional product,
not specifically because they could be considered “green”. Inevitable, if a green
building product does not work, market forces will force it off the shelves, just
as under performing conventional products are gradually abandoned in favor of something
else. Today, manufacturers of low-flow showerheads, bamboo flooring, and low-VOC
paint are creating reliable products. Although the industry has had some growing
pains, in the end green building is simply better building.
The Green Factor
Green building encompasses every part of construction, not just the house itself
but everything around it, and how the house and its occupants relate to the community
around them. In theory, it can seem simple. In practice, it can get complicated.
At its most basic, green building is a tripod of three interrelated goals:
- Energy efficiency, the cornerstone of any green building project.
A well-designed and green-built home consumes as little energy as possible and uses
renewal sources of energy whenever possible. Lower energy use not only saves homeowners
money but also has broader societal benefits, including fewer disruptions in energy
supplies, better air quality, and reduced global climate change.
- Conservation of natural resources. Conventional building needlessly
consumes large quantities of wood, water, metal, and fossil fuels. There are great
varieties of effective building strategies that conserve natural resources and provide
other benefits, such as lower costs. Strategies include the use of durable products
to reduce waste and specifying recycled-content products that reused natural resources.
- Indoor air quality. Poor indoor air quality is often caused by
mold and mildew that are the result of leaks or poorly designed and maintained heating
and cooling systems. Another common source of indoor air pollution is the off-gassing
of chemicals found in many building materials. Some are know carcinogens.
EarthCraft House is a regional green building program. At a minimum every EarthCraft
House needs to meet ENERGY STAR standards of an 85 Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS)
Index, or 15% better energy efficiency than standard code-built homes. With the
new consumer-friendly EnergySmart Home Scale every EarthCraft House will show the
corresponding EnergySmart rating and the home’s estimated annual energy use. EarthCraft
Houses certified over the past year have averaged a 72 on the EnergySmart Home Scale,
equivalent to 28% better than code. An EarthCraft House achieving rating of 72,
or a 72 HERS Index translates to a $930 savings in energy costs on an annual basis,
based on energy costs of $.10 per kwh and $1.40 per therm. For more information
on energy efficiency and green building visit
www.riverharris.com,
www.energystar.gov, and
www.earthcrafthouse.com.
Green building is not a gimmick. It’s just good building.
Excerpts taken from Green from the Ground Up, by David Johnston & Scott Gibson with
permission from Taunton Press.