The Cost of Going Green

View from South West corner

As I have alluded to in several of my previous posts, not only are we building a "Green Home", but our home will also be on the Green Home Tour this fall, prior to our moving in. When I inform people that we are building a Green Home, they often ask, "Oh, are you using wind or solar power?"

I guess the idea of "Green" means different things to different people and no wonder, the term is being used by everyone and everything lately. I have said this many times on my blog, I have a moderate belief system. I believe in balance. Balance in life, in politics, in work, in Religion, and with Family. I despise most extremism as it only serves to create conflict.

How does this relate to our new home? Well, it means that I have no plans of "going off the grid". Essentially, what it means to me is that we have he technology to build more energy efficient homes, there are methods available to diminish the impact a home has on disrupting the environment, there are vendors and manufacturers you can choose that do the same, so why not do it. While some of these improvements come at an additional up front cost, many do not. Additionally, a good portion of the up front costs can be recouped in energy savings over the life of the home.

Regardless of whether or not you believe or do not believe in climate change, why wouldn’t you change things in your life that diminish the impact you have on your environment? There are blogs I have read, news reports, and radio talk shows, where all they do is argue about climate change. What a waste of time and dare I say energy. Seriously, what is so wrong with deceasing our dependence on foreign oil? What is wrong with developing solar or wind power? What is wrong with recycling? What is wrong with building cars that are more fuel-efficient? What is wrong with reducing our energy usage? There are many reasons other than climate change to pursue these goals.

Additionally, going green is not just about energy savings but also about efficient design and construction. Our goal is to have our home LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design and is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 through a consensus based process, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes.

So, here are some of the things we have done to make our home 'Green'. Or in other words, here are things we have done to diminish the impact that our home has on the environment, to reduce our carbon foot print, to limit waste, to enhance sustainability. Some things may seem obvious, while others may not.

DESIGN: Our home footprint is compact.
IMPACT: Less disruption to the surrounding land, fewer building materials needed.
COST: Less expensive to build a house with a compact footprint and fewer corners. Fewer materials means less cost.

DESIGN: To increase space we built up instead of out.
IMPACT: Less disruption to the surrounding land.
COST: Less expensive to build a two story house than a similar square footage home as a Ranch design.

DESIGN: North/South facing home with limited windows on the East/West side of house.
IMPACT: Limited passive heating of home in Summer. During Winter months, the lower path of the sun will provide passive heat via South facing windows. (as noted in a previous post, this was an issue we had with the Architectural Review Board)
COST: Savings by reducing overall number of windows on East/West of house and through energy savings.

DESIGN: The windows we do have are Energy efficient.
IMPACT: Reduced passive heating and cooling, means energy savings
COST: Neutral.

DESIGN: We built our home using Insulated Concrete Forms.
IMPACT: Highly energy efficient. Sustainable, in that the home can last 200+ years, whereas a traditional wood framed home has an average life expectancy of 80-85 years. Saves lumber. Structure is impervious to rot, decay, and insects. Improved indoor air quality.
COST: Increase overall cost of 7-15% of total cost of house. However, can be recouped on energy savings, reduced maintenance, and reduced cost to insure.

DESIGN: Geothermal Heating and Cooling.
IMPACT: Zero emissions,renewable energy, and more efficient.
COST: About 3x as expensive as a dual fuel system. However, with the current tax incentive the net cost is decreased to 2x that of a duel fuel system. Additional savings in heating and cooling costs will add to tax benefit.

DESIGN: Tankless water heating system.
IMPACT: Reduced energy usage.
COST: Anywhwere from 1.5-3x more than a traditional water heater. However, some of the cost will be recouped on energy savings.

DESIGN: PEX tubing using a manifold homerun design, instead of copper tubing.
IMPACT: Recyclable tubing (while it can not be re-used, it can be recycled into other products). Less heat transfer than copper, thus conserves energy. No solder required. Manifold homerun design conserves water.
COST: Significantly less than copper plumbing.

DESIGN: Energy Star Appliances.
IMPACT: Reduced energy consumption
COST: Neutral up front cost with a long-term net energy savings.

DESIGN: use of CFLs in select locations, such as garage, closets, laundry room, and outdoors. Until CFLs or LED light design improves we have decided to use traditional lighting in living areas, but they will be attached to dimmers.
IMPACT: Reduced energy consumption.
COST: Higher initial expense for CFLs but net savings over the life of the bulb.

DESIGN: Purchase tile with recycled content and from a US manufacturer working to improve its own sustainability.
IMPACT: Limits environmental impact during manufacturing process. Use of recycled products.
COST: Neutral

DESIGN: Purchase wood flooring from a US manufacturer harvesting trees from certified sustainable forests.
IMPACT: Limits environmental impact during manufacturing process.
COST: Neutral.

DESIGN: The use of a Truss framed roof rather than traditional hand framed roof.
IMPACT: Less wood needed, less time to install, and from a structural standpoint is typically stronger than a hand framed roof.
COST: Less wood used fewer tress and lower cost, in addition less time needed to install also reduces labor costs.

So, those are some of the things we are doing related to the building of our home. Many of these things I learned about for the first time during the building process and were a surprise to me. Certainly this is not an exhaustive list and there are many other ways to build a sustainable and Green home, this is just one example.

NEXT: Is the term 'Green Landscaping' redundant?