What Shade of Green Are Your Clients?

Why So Much Interest in Green?

As the name suggests, green building helps reduce the impact of our homes on the environment. Yet, homeowners and homebuilders are realizing that greener homes can cost less to build and operate, last longer, are healthier to live in, use less water and energy and often have a higher re-sale value (Source: U.S. Green Building Council). In 2004 alone, more than 14,000 homes were constructed nationwide according to local green building guidelines (Source: NAHB).

Green building is much more than an environmental initiative. The financial benefits of building green are also a major benefit. In fact, the NAHB Research Center/Icynene survey found homeowners consider cost savings to be far more important than environmental benefits when evaluating building materials.

Greener homes make sense for many reasons. The challenge is deciding what products and practices are truly green? Dozens of building products call themselves "green," but there's no one universally accepted definition of what green actually means, even among building experts.

Green for Life

Green building organizations such as the U.S. Green Building Council and the Rocky Mountain Institute say green-building products should have a lower environmental impact, from the day they're produced through the end of their useful life. They should help reduce our reliance on natural resources, reduce waste and contribute to a healthier, more durable home. Based on what homeowners are saying, they should also help save us money.

Green products and practices should offer long-term environmental and cost benefits. For example, insulation made from renewable or recycled resources (plants, recycled fabrics, newspapers, etc.) might use less raw material to manufacture and even cost less to install, but will it reduce monthly energy consumption? Will it contribute to a home that is healthier and has fewer maintenance problems? Will it help a home last longer and stay out of landfill?