Going Green?

Going Green?

Recently the California Association of Realtors presented an interesting article on Going Green. Here is the first of our installments:

"Greening" a Home is part of a fast-growing pro-environment market. National surveys indicate that 80% of consumers consider themselves "green-minded". Homeowners are discovering that this popular movement both benefits the planet and cuts down on monthly costs. In fact, in 2006, 99.7% of screw-in compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) products sold by General Electric were Energy Star-qualified. Over their lifetime, they will reduce consumer's electricity costs by $1.3 billion and prevent the release of one trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions by power plants in 100 countries.

Putting in a new light bulb is just one way to help the planet. So, what exactly makes a home green? Several organizations help consumers answer this very question. Build It Green (http://www.builditgreen.org/) is a non-profit, independent organization that has created a rating system that evaluates homes for their environment-friendly enhances. Receiving a GreenPoint Rating means that a home was verified for meeting green building measures.

The U.S. Green Building Council (http://www.usgbc.org/) has created Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a third-party certification program and benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance residential and commercial green buildings. The recently launched REGREEN program (www.regreenprogram.org/), a partnership of the American Society of Interior Designers' Foundation and the USGBC, provides green residential remodeling guidelines.

When these organizations look at homes, they are evaluating how a remodel has positively affected the environment and, essentially, the homeowners. In our next installment, we will discuss what elements these organizations look at when rating a home's green status.

from "California Real Estate", published by the California Association of Realtors, written by Michelle D. Alderson