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Ask for a Green Built Home by Features

Did you know that now you can actually search for a Green Home?  In Charleston’s Multiple Listing Services there is a new search category called, you guessed it, GREEN FEATURES.  Here you can select from a menu of Energy Efficient and Sustainable options in your home selection.  The key is to understand the jargon, so here is a primer for you. 

1. Bamboo Floors - Not only are they trendy but they are made from a renewable source, grass.  Okay, technically trees are also a renewable source but it takes between 25 and 75 years for a hardwood tree to grow to maturity. It takes approximately 1 year to grow bamboo.  
2. Earthcraft – EarthCraft House is a green building program that serves as a blueprint for healthy comfortable homes that reduce utility bills and protect the environment. The aim of the program is to help home builders be leaders in smart growth management and environmental stewardship. Building an EarthCraft House is about constructing a healthy, more valuable home while minimizing environmental impacts. EarthCraft House follows a systems approach to home building that stresses an understanding of how the different components of a home work together. This approach results in a home that performs better, is more economical for the homeowner and costs little more to build than a comparable home built with standard construction practices.  The important thing to know about Earthcraft is that not every Earthcraft house will have the exact same features.  To allow the builders and architects flexibility in the designs, there is a point system that targets key areas like construction materials, site planning, appliances, waste management, air quality, water conservation as well as builder bonus points that they can earn from recycling waste materials like end cuts of wood. To gain the Earthcraft certification, the house must first be Energy Star certified for indoor air quality tests and earn at least 150 Earthcraft points.  Select and Premium Earthcraft homes must earn 200 and 230 points respectively. For more info: www.earthcrafthouse.com
3. EStar - ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that promotes energy efficient products and practices. Energy Star rating can be achieved in many different areas of the home, so just because the house has an Energy Star HVAC system mean that the entire house is Energy Star. Again it’s a menu available to builders and home owners from which to select energy efficient features.  On average, Energy Star homeowners can reduce energy bills and greenhouse gas emmisions by approximately 1/3rd. These features include: Air filtration and HVAC systems, appliances, Insulation, Roofing, windows and doors. For more info: www.energystar.gov
4. HERS Rating -   The lower the number the better the energy rating.  Based on the Energy Star model,  the HERS Rating system is a mathematical score given to a house after careful inspections and site reviews.  The rating is based upon a HERS Index. Upon completion of the plan review, the rater will work with the builder to identify the energy efficiency improvements needed to ensure the house will meet ENERGY STAR performance guidelines. The rater then conducts onsite inspections, typically including a blower door test (to test the leakiness of the house) and a duct test (to test the leakiness of the ducts). Results of these tests, along with inputs derived from the plan review, are used to generate the HERS Index score for the home.The HERS Index is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home (based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code) scores a HERS Index of 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower a home’s HERS Index, the more energy efficient it is in comparison to the HERS Reference Home.Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home. Thus a home with a HERS Index of 85 is 15% more energy efficient than the HERS Reference Home and a home with a HERS Index of 80 is 20% more energy efficient. For more info: www.energystar.gov
5. LEED Certified – Released in January 2008, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.LEED for Homes is a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes. A green home uses less energy, water and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier and more comfortable for the occupants. Benefits of a LEED home include lower energy and water bills; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and less exposure to mold, mildew and other indoor toxins. The net cost of owning a LEED home is comparable to that of owning a conventional home. There is an incredible wealth of information on this new system inculding rating systems and project checklists at www.usgbc.org
6. Rain Collection/MGR  – Rain Collection can take many forms from a small water barrel that collects from the downspout to huge intergrated systems that recycle the water through a filtration system. At present, this technology is very rare in this area and still under development.

Of course, you and I can probably think of many other ways a house can be greener, such as a living roof system, organic materials, and the like but as of today these are the locally accepted standards according to the Charleston Trident Multiple Listing Service. 

One word of caution, these are all new and subject to change.  So new in fact that many homes have these features and do not advertise them.  So don’t be afraid to ask your Real Estate professional for assistance in navigating through the Green Maze.

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