Get Your Green On

Get Your Green ON...Let's Go!!!

WHAT IS A GREEN HOME

Energy efficiency, health, and comfort all are hallmarks of a green house. Such properties often are called high performance, eco-friendly or energy efficient homes.

Common Elements

While some homes are certified as green by housing or environmental industry groups, properties don't necessarily have to carry a label to be considered green.

What all such homes have in common is a desire by its owners to live in a property that incorporates systems and features that lower utility bills, improve health and comfort, and minimize the impact on the planet.

Green Upgrades

For existing homes, there is a vast array of strategies for achieving greater efficiency. They include small, inexpensive upgrades, like installing low-flow water faucets, energy efficient light bulbs, and programmable thermostats. In addition, less visible elements, such as efficient insulation and air sealing, create a more comfortable, less drafty interior environment

And bigger, more costly projects - high efficiency furnaces, solar panels, and triple-pane windows, for example - often provide larger financial and environmental gains.

New Homes

Newly constructed homes are being built to high standards that embrace green principles. Many builders now take a scientific, whole-building approach to ensure that a property's design, layout and systems work in concert to create a functional, comfortable setting that addresses environmental concerns.

Seeking Green

When you are looking for a home with green features, here is a short checklist of considerations:

  • Energy efficiency in home features like appliances, water faucets, lighting, heating, cooling, and water- heating systems
  • Efficient building envelopes with high-performance windows and well-insulated walls, doors, and attics
  • Non-toxic building materials and finishes, such as recycled or renewable woods and low and zero - VOC (volatile organic compound) paints and sealants.
  • A landscape featuring native plants that thrive without chemical fertilizers or excessive watering.
  • Location efficiency, meaning a community where public transportation and the needs of daily life are accessible without a car.  

Learn More

Contact a Realtor with the NAR's Green Designation me! www.gailcorcoran.REALTOR

Read about green home labels at ENERGY STAR, www.EnergyStar.gov  

National Association of Homebuilders, www.NAHB.org  

US Green Building Council, www.USGBC.org

 

**REALTORS® who have earned the National Association of REALTORS Green Designation (www.greenresourcecouncil.org) can refer you to local experts who can assess your home's performance.