Cascade Built Blog
July 21, 2009
How do you know it’s Green?
Posted by admin, 5:07 PM
Looking for a new home? Want it to be a Green home? How do you know it’s Green? What does Green mean anyway? Almost every house on the market says it’s green now.
It’s true, a Green home can be better: it may be cheaper to operate, have fresher air & fewer toxins, more durable construction, and tread lightly on the environment – or not. But it’s not that easy to know when comparing one home to another. A slick sales and marketing program may talk the talk and then mention how “the builder saved some money by not getting it certified, so they passed the savings on to you.” This may be a red flag, as you can almost be certain they passed the savings on to themselves by taking shortcuts during design and construction as well.
How would you ever know? Here are some questions you should ask if seeking a green home:
1) Is it certified Green? Energy Star Home (not just an appliance, but the whole house), LEED Certified, Built Green, HERS rating, 2030 Challenge Compliant, Living Building? And at what level of certification? A HERS rating of 100 is a code home, barely legal, where a rating of 50 means twice as efficient. LEED Platinum is better than LEED Gold & Silver, and so on.
2) Third Party Verification? – are the marketing claims verified by someone besides the builder and their sales team? Built Green 3-star rating is not verified, where 4-star and 5-star are measured and verified by independent inspectors (all LEED certifications are 3rd party verified).
3) What is the energy performance of this home? Get the number, it can be calculated or measured. If it wasn’t calculated precisely, you can bet it’s no better than any other place. Having radiant heat does not make a home green. Numbers that might help here are: Blower Door test result, HERS rating, EUI (Energy Use Intensity), recent utility bills if occupied, etc.
4) Is there any Urea Formaldehyde in the construction materials? Cabinets, baseboards, casing and other construction materials often contain toxins that have ill health effects. Just like with food products, if you can’t pronounce it – u-re-a for-mal-de-hyde – don’t stew yourself in it!
5) What is the U-Factor of the windows? The number equates to heat loss, less is better. Code is .4, energy star is .35, .10 is very efficient, but too expensive for most. U .30 or .28 is just a bit more expensive than code but way more efficient.
6) What is the R-Value of the wall, ceiling and floor insulation? “R” stands for Heat Resistance, more is better. Code is somewhere around 21 for walls, go for more, like 30 or 40, insulation is cheap, energy is expensive.
If you got this far with the seller or sales agent you are probably on the right track, unless you got a blank stare. If you think Green means something more than just Bamboo floors, you’ll have to educate yourself about construction a little bit and ask questions. Do you know what a U-Factor is? R-value? FSC certified wood? Stick-built vs. panelized, SIPs and ICFs? Post-consumer content, salvage, waste? Pick the things that matter the most to you, and define Green on your own terms: rainforest preservation, salmon habitat, climate change, erosion, healthy indoor air, or anything that’s personally important.
