Construction Industry Trends

It’s Good to Be Green

Issue Table of Contents

It’s Good to Be Green Q&A with Doug Shroeder Programs and Tools to Get You Started with Green Building Construction Green Building Standards and Related Publications

There’s no doubt about it — builders are seeing green. As new programs and products devoted to green home building crop up, it is easy to see that interest is on the rise. But for many, the very term green can cause confusion, leaving consumers and builders alike in doubt about what it means to build green.

“I think one of the struggles is that people have different names for similar things and this includes green, this includes sustainable, this includes high performance, comfortable, or healthy,” says Doug Schroeder, associate director, Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC). “At SBIC we’re talking about a building with residential applications that leaves as minimal an impact on the environment as possible, meaning it uses low energy and materials that are sustaining.”

But building for sustainability shouldn’t be the only consideration, says Doug. His organization promotes the concept of whole building design, which stresses the importance of balance. With the whole building design principle, builders should take into consideration a number of important elements, including sustainability, cost-effectiveness and affordability, security, and aesthetics. “The balance is unique for each case. You have to decide what is the best end product you want for the particular building you are working on.”

Over the years, green building has slowly but surely crept into the mainstream. This has been driven by a number of factors, including:

• Environmental impact. Green building focuses on choosing materials that are derived from rapidly renewable resources or from recycled content. They are durable, requiring less frequent replacement, and are more easily broken down into core components for recycling.
• Indoor air quality. Traditional materials used in items such as paint and carpet can lead to the offgassing of toxic chemicals that can be harmful to occupants. Green materials can reduce or eliminate this, leading to a healthier environment.
• Energy efficiency. Rising energy costs are making more people interested in homes that are energy efficient. While homes that rely on the sun to generate their energy are what people often think of as the ultimate in energy efficiency, passive energy elements can also have a significant impact on energy usage. House orientation, insulation, windows, glazing, and appliances all work together in a green home to maximize energy efficiencies.

In addition, Doug points to the government, and its focus on sustainable, energy-efficient federal buildings, as another driver. “The federal government has done a great deal to help move this along as the biggest procurer of buildings in the United States. When the government mandates something, it happens, examples occur, and people who design and build get experience doing it. It’s been a big thing for the federal government to be so aggressive as it has in its promotion of sustainable buildings.”

With lower maintenance costs, green homes are attracting an increasing number of buyers who are willing to overlook their sometimes higher price tags. In 2003, Professional Builder magazine conducted its third survey in four years about homebuyers’ green outlook. On average, the surveys revealed, homebuyers are willing to spend more than $3,500 for green features.

But do green features make a green home? It depends. The range of green choices is continuing to increase, with energy-efficient appliances and environmentally friendly materials proliferating. Yet simply using these products may not be enough to create the sustainable home that buyers are now looking for. “You have to understand what’s being talked about and realize that it’s a very big picture, and not a small picture of selecting a qualified piece of equipment,” says Doug. “It’s a combination of a lot of different things.”¹