By Wendy A. Jordan, CAPS
April 13, 2006—Once just a sprinkling of emerald in the landscape of new homes, healthy and environmentally friendly construction is casting a "green" tint across much of the new home terrain.
"Green home building is at a tipping point among the builder population," says Harvey Bernstein, vice president, industry analytics and alliances, at McGraw-Hill Construction. A nationwide survey of home builders conducted earlier this year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and McGraw-Hill Construction found that by 2007 a majority of home builders will be "more involved with green building," Bernstein says. In other words, what once was viewed as a novelty is becoming an industry norm.
The survey of NAHB members—about half the respondents are single-family builders, 30 percent builder/developers and the rest remodelers, multifamily builders and land developers—revealed a 20 percent increase in the number who were "dedicated to green building issues" from 2005 to 2006, says Bernstein. The green-builder group is expected to grow by another 30 percent this year. "At least 15 percent of their work will be green," he says.
Look for green home building to increase from a 2 percent share ($7.4 billion) of this year's new home market to 5-10 percent (a whopping $19 billion-$38 billion) by 2010. "Within 10 years everybody's going to be building green," Bernstein says.
A green sweep
Why the green sweep? Most survey respondents said it's the right thing to do for their customers, their community and the environment. Small builders also cited rising energy costs, superior performance and consumer demand as important reasons. Large production builders added one more major incentive: codes and regulations that now encourage green construction.
Ray Tonjes, a high-end custom home builder and remodeler, has had an interest in energy efficiency since the early '80s when he launched his business in Austin, Texas. He was in the right place at the right time: Austin's 1991 Energy Star program was the first green building program in the country, he says. Now Tonjes is chairman of NAHB's Green Building Subcommittee.
NAHB has been working to show builders that "green is a label on a lot of things we were already doing," says Tonjes—such as energy efficiency measures that earn utility rebates—and that a lot of green building costs little or no more than traditional methods. The study found that, on average, green building can add 10 percent to the cost of a project. The reward is energy savings over the life of the house, as well as healthier, more comfortable living.
"There's nothing like a crisis to transform an industry," adds Tonjes. High oil prices and news about environmental issues have generated "a heightened awareness" of the benefits of green building. That awareness is shared by homeowners; more than 75 percent of the households interviewed for "Energy Pulse 2005," a survey by the Shelton Group, said they would select one home versus another if it were more energy efficient.
Tonjes routinely applies green-building practices on his projects. For example, he fills a nylon "compost sock" of yard mulch "as a kind of fence for storm water control, uses crushed concrete for foundation fill, and opts for green products such as engineered wood; exterior trim composites containing recycled plastic; borate-treated sill plates; cellulose insulation; low VOC paint; high-efficiency heating and air conditioning equipment; and Energy Star appliances.
Tonjes doesn't need to push the green aspect. He offers his customers value. "Everything I do increases efficiency, lowers utility bills or has a better life cycle and lower maintenance," he says. "It's a very easy sell."
For many customers, protecting the environment is the main attraction of green, says Bernstein. "We're changing the DNA of our normal consumer," Bernstein says. "[The shift] starts with our K-12 education process. Kids are environmentally geared today." And apparently they're bringing the message home.
Green Houses
NAHB's green building guidelines can be downloaded free at
www.nahb.org/gbg. Here are 10 top green tips of the builders surveyed.
- Use oriented strand board instead of plywood
- Use TGI and glulam beams instead of dimensional lumber
- Minimize disruption to vegetation on property
- Retain natural water drainage
- Use low-E glass windows
- Reduce air infiltration
- Use roof overhangs to cut solar gain
- Install high-efficiency HVAC equipment
- Choose energy-efficient and water-saving appliances
- Reduce construction waste
Wendy A. Jordan is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. She is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist and the former editor of Remodeling magazine.
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