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Green Homes – Top 10 Benefits

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green homeGreen building is so much more than saving energy or reducing a home’s environmental footprint. Homeowners of a certified Green Home can realize many more benefits as described below.

Lower Operating Costs – Your Green Home will have lower energy and water bills as a result of energy and water efficiency measures.

Healthier Home – With improved indoor air quality, less harmful off gases and prevention of water intrusion, which can create mold, your family should be healthier, miss less work and school, which hopefully will result in less medical bills

Reduced Maintenance & Replacement Costs – Increased useful life of products and materials will result in cost savings. A properly planned landscaping package will reduce the amount of time spent working in the yard and allow more time to enjoy the outdoors.

Potential Financial Incentives – As green home building has become more mainstream, there are increasingly more federal tax credit and local government and utility company incentive rebates available, lower cost Green mortgages available and more recently, insurance companies are beginning to offer lower premium options.

Higher Performing & Durable Home – You will benefit immensely from a better built and higher performing home; 3rd party verification of duct leaks and house air leaks will insure that any deficiencies discovered can be addressed and repaired during construction, saving untold amount of wasted energy; certification experts will approve your home for your LEED (Leader in Energy & Environmental Design), NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) or other local approved Green certification programs, resulting in a higher valued home.

Environmental Friendly & Sustainable Measures – Can one family building a Green Home solve global warming or bring a complete halt to diminishing resources? No. Can one family building a Green Home contribute to the solution and be part of a movement that one day may be the new standard? YES! Through the use of sustainable practices, recycled and renewable products, and more energy efficient systems, we can reduce the impact on our environment and precious resources.

Higher Value & Resale Advantages – Your certified Green Home will have a higher value than a comparable standard home and if you decide to sell your home, multiple listing systems used by Realtors to sell homes are now recognizing green certification programs and it is much easier to market the benefits of home to buyers.

More Comfortable Home Environment – Imagine the personal benefits to you and your family by living in a quiet, clean, safe, secure and controlled indoor air quality home – is there anything more important that the health and welfare of your family? Is there really a price tag you can assign to the benefit of building a Green Home to you, your children and your grandchildren?

Safer & More Secure – Your family is better protected with the use of high performance smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, radon testing detectors and security system.

Promotes an EcoGreen Luxury Lifestyle - Now that you have decided to build a high performance and healthy Green Home, your life is changed forever – all for the better! Would you furnish your new home with anything other than safe, healthy, organic and eco-friendly products? Might you consider living a healthier lifestyle? Will you sleep in peace knowing you have provided your family a safe, clean, healthy living environment?

As you can see, there are so many more benefits in owning a Green Home than just “energy efficiency” or being “eco-friendly”.

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Energy Efficient Features of ENERGY STAR Qualified New Homes

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To earn the ENERGY STAR, a home must meet guidelines for energy efficiency set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20-30% more efficient than standard homes.

With homebuyers increasingly interested in green building, energy efficiency is the place to start. That’s because the energy used in homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and risks of global warming.

So, the less energy used, the less air pollution generated. And the easy way to make sure a new home is energy efficient is to look for the blue ENERGY STAR mark, the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency.

Any home three stories or less can earn the ENERGY STAR label if it has been verified to meet EPA’s guidelines, including: single family, attached, and low-rise multi-family homes; manufactured homes; systems-built homes (e.g., SIP, ICF, or modular construction); log homes, concrete homes; and even existing retrofitted homes.

ENERGY STAR qualified homes can include a variety of ‘tried-and-true’ energy-efficient features that contribute to improved home quality and homeowner comfort, and to lower energy demand and reduced air pollution:

1. Effective Insulation
Properly installed and inspected insulation in floors, walls, and attics ensures even temperatures throughout the house, reduced energy use, and increased comfort.

2. High-Performance Windows
Energy-efficient windows employ advanced technologies, such as protective coatings and improved frames, to help keep heat in during winter and out during summer. These windows also block damaging ultraviolet sunlight that can discolor carpets and furnishings.

3. Tight Construction and Ducts
Sealing holes and cracks in the home’s “envelope” and in heating and cooling duct systems helps reduce drafts, moisture, dust, pollen, and noise. A tightly sealed home improves comfort and indoor air quality while reducing utility and maintenance.

4. Efficient Heating and Cooling Equipment
In addition to using less energy to operate, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems can be quieter, reduce indoor humidity, and improve the overall comfort of the home. When properly installed into a tightly sealed home, this equipment won’t have to work so hard to heat and cool the home.

5. Efficient Products
ENERGY STAR qualified homes may also be equipped with ENERGY STAR qualified products – lighting fixtures, compact fluorescent bulbs, ventilation fans, and appliances, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines.

6. Third-Party Verification
With the help of independent Home Energy Raters, ENERGY STAR builder partners choose the most appropriate energy-saving features for their homes. Additionally, raters conduct onsite testing and inspections to verify the energy efficiency measures, as well as insulation, air tightness, and duct sealing details.

We will explore each feature of an energy efficient home in future posts. Stay tuned!

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Green. . .What’s It Mean?

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lake-burdenCreating a green home is not a static process. Rather, it requires the application of several elements that, taken together, can result in a comfortable, durable, energy-efficient, healthy, and environmentally responsible structure. These elements include:

Energy: Energy conservation can be achieved through the judicious choice of construction methods, HVAC systems, lighting, appliances, and home orientation. For example, selecting a lot that allows the most energy-efficient orientation of a home in relation to the sun is a simple but often overlooked way to cut energy bills. In fact, some experts estimate that combining proper home orientation with a design that is focused on retaining the sun’s heat in winter and blocking it in summer can produce an energy savings of between 30 and 40 percent.

Water: Residential construction can contribute to the preservation of this most important resource through incorporating low-water-usage appliances and plumbing fixtures, efficient irrigation design, and use of drought-tolerant native plants.

Durability: A green home is one that will still be standing strong many years down the road. Construction methods, fire-resistant materials, moisture mitigation, and termite control all play a part in creating a durable structure.

Materials: Conservation of materials is the first and foremost goal in this category, and minimizing square footage makes the biggest difference. However, building materials that are produced or available locally, that contain recycled content, and/or that support sustainability (for example, wood with a sustainable forestry certification) are also important contributors to a green home.

Recycling of building material waste during construction is another principal component of material usage.

Health: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that indoor air is typically two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. Proper ventilation and the selection of products with low or zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are two ways to improve indoor air quality. (VOCs, found in many paints, stains, carpet, carpet padding, cabinetry, particleboard, sealants, and adhesives, are emitted as gases that negatively affect air quality.)

Incorporating a central vacuum system can also improve air quality. Regular vacuum cleaners release dust and other allergens back into the air. A central vacuum system, on the other hand, deposits 100 percent of vacuumed substances into the canister (usually located in the garage).

By the year 2030, half of all buildings in America will have been built since the year 2000. Building green now will make a difference for years to come.

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Guest Writer Tracy DeCarlo

Tracy DeCarlo is author of The Difference is in the Details: The Homeowner’s Planning Guide for Building a Functional Home and owner of One Stop Green Home Certification.

>>Click Here To Purchase The Book<<

>>Click Here For More Information About Green Home Certification<<



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Indoor Air Quality Testing

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In the New Era of Green Conscientiousness, Indoor Pollutants will be on the Rise

indoor-air-qualityWhile I am certainly grateful to the eco-friendly save-the-planet green conscientious era we are in, there is a flip side to a greener home or office; tightly sealed homes and commercial buildings cannot easily release pollutants back into the atmosphere, thus concentrations are higher indoors than out. The best way to begin the process of making a green home is to conduct indoor air quality testing.

Indoor pollution is potentially a far greater pollutant creator than the outdoor pollution at even the most industrialized cities across the planet. It is true that many pollutant levels from individual sources are not a serious health risk and they will not have a significant and detrimental impact all by themselves. But the cumulative effect of those pollutants can pose a real health risk. Immediate and future health risk is greatest for infants and children as well as chronically ill people and the elderly population.

So, with the many foreseeable changes in how we live our lives in relation to the planet and lessening our carbon footprint, there will also be a significant shift in how we build all future buildings, including our homes. With the New Age of Responsibility comes the responsibility of protecting our natural resources while repairing our planet healthier. We cannot lose sight of the fact that old structures around the world need our attention – all things must be constructed with new sustainable practices and guidelines as well as updating of the old.

Healthy indoor environments are equally as important as energy conservation. Indoor air quality testing is just a step in the process of protecting our resources and adding to the world’s conservation plight.

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Indoor Air Quality

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Can be More Polluted Than the Biggest Cities of the World

Scientific evidence shows us that that the indoor air quality of our homes and other buildings can be more unhealthy than the polluted outdoor air of the largest and most industrialized cities on our planet. Research demonstrates that we spend an average of 90 percent of our time indoors, whether it is home, office or other building. Health risks may be far more substantial than given thought due to chronic exposure to indoor air pollution indoors. The first step in resolving any air quality issues in your home is to conduct an air quality test by either purchasing an indoor air quality test for homes or hiring a professional to evaluate your home air-quality.

Indoor air pollution comes from many sources in the home and can be a health risk to anyone in the home, whether it is a multi-million dollar mansion or a small condo off Main Street, USA. Negative health effects might be fairly immediate, as in a toxic reaction, chronic allergies, or even unexplained headaches and fatigue. In addition, detrimental health effects might not show up for many years, long after the initial exposure and manifest as chronic fatigue, cancers and respiratory diseases.

Some of the most common indoor air quality busters are sources of combustion (oil, wood, kerosene, tobacco), building materials and furnishings, out-dated asbestos insulation, household cleaning products, central heating and cooling systems as well as outdoor sources such as radon and pesticides.

The first step is to evaluate your home for pollutants. Once you have feedback from the indoor air quality test for homes evaluation, changes can be made. If you have a substantial amount of pollutants, there are citywide agencies to help eliminate an air pollution problem in your home.

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