Upon completion of this analysis, a Home Energy 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 typically conducts onsite inspections and uses the results of various tests to generate the HERS Index for the home.

A home energy rating is a recognized tool in the mortgage industry, as it quantifies the energy performance of a home.

The HERS Index

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 scores a HERS Index of 100.

Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home.

Why should builders choose to build ENERGY STAR homes?

• Homebuyers will save money every month and have a more comfortable and safer home.
• Homeowners’ requests to save energy have become high demand.  Some buyers will even use projected energy savings to pay for high-end upgrades.
• Protect the environment, and openly promote that as part of your brand.
• As an Energy Star builder EPA allows you to use their produced marketing and technical resources at no cost.

What things do you consider when choosing whether or not to build an Energy Star home?

This Energy Efficient Mortgage can be used by homeowners with both Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) loans.

To be eligible for an Energy Efficient Mortgage, the projected energy savings naturally need to be greater than the cost of the work. The savings are calculated using the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) index, which calculates what the average energy usage would be in the home once the improvements are made compared to a similar home that did not have the work done.

Knowing your home energy rating will help you choose smart energy upgrades and investments that will save you in energy costs, improve your home comfort, and protect the environment.

Size matters: The best green homes have just enough space and no more. If building small is not an option, try to optimize the space you have and build up rather than out when possible.

Make recycling easy: Recycling and composting spaces can be incorporated into the home design. Make sure to include outdoor living spaces and large windows that bring nature inside.

Build for renewable energy: Design your home to use passive solar, daylighting, and other renewable energy techniques.

Materials that make sense: Choose eco-friendly and local materials that actually work in your area. Not all green materials work the same – do you homework before choosing building materials.

Recycle building materials: Have a recycling plan in place for the building process so no building materials are wasted.

Homes with muscle: Durability is one of the greenest factors in building. A home with a long life is a naturally a green home. Talk to different architects and contractors and make sure they have a durability plan.

Don’t neglect the roof: Roofing choices do have a large impact on the energy efficiency of your home. Take a look at roof additions and green roof options.

Photo courtesy of sustainhouse.com

Green products are perceived as more expensive. Buyers are concerned about whether or not sustainable will save them in the long run.

We live in a world filled with pollutants. Building materials contribute significantly to indoor air quality and have a direct effect on the health of the people who live and work in them. Most building materials give off VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds. These VOCs off-gas and contribute to sick building syndrome.

Studies link lymphoma and leukemia to prolonged exposure to VOCs. Respiratory, allergic and immune system responses also occur. Many of the chemicals that are off-gassed are highly toxic, and for many others the long-term effects are unknown. Sustainable materials, however, have very low or even zero emissions of VOCs. By creating good indoor air conditions we are positively affecting the health and quality of life of the people who live and work there.
Office building owners and business owners have been the first to recognize this effect, as it directly effects the business’ bottom line. Significant reductions in the number of sick days are found in sustainable-certified buildings. This reduces lost wages from sick days, decreased productivity, and health insurance costs.

While building materials that are sustainable may cost slightly more when they are purchased, they more than pay for them self in a very short period of time.

Lighting has a very rapid payback. We have been specifying LED lighting in all of our recent projects. With an average bulb life of 50,000 hours it could be twenty years before any bulbs need to be replaced! That alone decreases operating costs. But that’s not all. A 10-1/2 watt bulb has the same light output as a 65-watt incandescent. That means in a room with 10 downlights instead
of using 650 watts of power to light it up, we’re using only 105 watts. It’s an enormous cost savings! Typically the savings on power bills alone pay back the purchase cost of the bulbs in the first 1-2 years. And considering those same bulbs could be around for another 18-19 years after that, the long-term savings are clear.

The same thing goes for appliances that are energy star certified. These are items that you won’t replace for a long time, and it’s critical to get the most energy efficient products on the market.

Why are consumers not demanding green and sustainable housing?

Consumers don’t know enough to demand it. If consumers were presented with all the facts about sustainability, and they truly understood the health, environmental, and cost benefits, they would absolutely demand it. It’s a no-brainer.

Is Green the new trend?
Building owners who have buildings with long life cycles, i.e. university buildings and office buildings, have been among the first to embrace sustainability because they understand the long-term benefits, both to the health of the occupants and the tremendous long term cost savings.

Hospitals also understand the benefits. Office building owners recognize that knowledgeable
business owners will demand sustainable certified building environments for their employees. This means the building owners have to create sustainable environments to compete for tenants. Unfortunately, the area where sustainability has not received as much attention is in the residential market. For the most part, builders are simply not educated to the benefits of building green.
Mass housing developments have been more focused on the bottom line, which means materials with even a slight cost premium have been for the most part discarded. Builders don’t believe that consumers want it. And consumers don’t know why they should want it because no one is educating them. It’s a vicious cycle that can only be broken when enough builders step up to the plate and develop a green conscience.

Who are some manufacturers that are doing it right?

Mythic Paint — the most sustainable paint on the planet.

Kemiko — Reactive concrete stains that let the structural material, concrete, become finished flooring.

Weyerhauser — Framing materials made from engineered lumber that is sustainably harvested.

Eco by Cosentino — The Silestone manufacturer’s green product line.

Cree LED lighting — Energy-Savings-Calculator

Special thanks to valuable contributor

Johnna Barrett
Barrett Design, Inc.
www.barrettdesigninc.com
www.sustainhouse.com

The focus for green construction is usually on topics including material choices, indoor air quality, landscaping, and the VOC content of paint. Is this wide array of information irrelevant?

From an environmental perspective, the most important factor is energy use — not energy efficiency, but actual energy consumption.

A study was done by CORRIM [Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials] to find the total difference, over 75 years, between carbon emissions for a steel-framed vs. a wood-framed home. The total life-cycle carbon emissions — for manufacturing and transporting the materials, building the
home, maintaining, heating, cooling and lighting it for 75 years, and dismantling and disposing of it at the end — had very little variance. However, according to their numbers, it’s evident that the big carbon impacts from a home are from heating, cooling, and electric power consumption, not the choice of framing materials.

Energy-efficiency features of a house, such as excellent insulation and passive heating and cooling are what make the largest positive impact long-term to the climate. Designers can orient windows and walls and place awnings and porches to shade windows and roofs during the summer while maximizing solar gain in
the winter. In addition, effective window placement (daylighting) can provide more natural light and lessen the need for electric lighting during the day. Solar water heating further reduces energy costs.

What does green building mean to you? Who do you think is doing it well, and who has their focus in the wrong place?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR PART 2!

As noted by the article, baby boomers were the first generation to grow up in the suburbs.  The irony is that they are the generation that might also leave them.  As boomers have aged, most of the finishes and features in suburban homes are not ideal for their needs.  Some concerns include stairs, low lighting, and conventional faucets and knobs.  Recent studies say that most boomers would like to stay put but health concerns could easily change this idea.

Award winning homebuilders across the country are starting to utilize Universal design for new homes.  The idea is to create a home that will age well with its owner.  An example would be creating a front door landing without stairs.  This can be done without sacrificing visual appeal if done correctly.  It is believed that shear size of the baby boomer generation will send Universal design into the spotlight.

You may be thinking that Universal design only belongs in communities with a focus on boomers but builders are realizing its potential in neighborhoods with different generations.  These design features can be transparent so the widened hallways or wide pocket doors wont make the home less attractive.  Builders believe that Universal design is easy to implement if properly planned.  In fact, you wouldn’t be able to see these features in a home until they’re needed.  For example, towel bars in a bathroom can be swapped out later for grab bars if needed.  The bathrooms are already equipped with backer supports just in case.

It is going to be interesting to see how builders incorporate Universal design in the coming year.  Can it really be attractive to generations younger than baby boomers?

The industry has seen the introduction of several smart phone applications during the previous year. Each application aims to make the homebuying experience more convenient and social. The latest application to be announced is the Sawbuck Real Estate Application from Sawbuck Real Estate.

Real Estate iPhone Application Features

This new homebuying application is loaded with features to help make the homebuying process more efficient and organized. Users can you use their phone’s GPS to locate listings on a map, develop a list of nearby homes, or generate a photo gallery. Once homes are located, the user can re-organize the listings based on their desired price range, size, and desired property type. There is also an option for searchers to take personal photos, and videos of properties that interest them. Based on personal reviews, the application will rate each home based on the number of stars out of four a user indicates. If a user gives a home 3 stars, the application deems the house a “favorite” for that homebuyer. Once users decide on which houses to tour, they can then arrange for a self-guided tour or a guided tour with a real estate agent. They have also included a “check-in” feature so users can take their homebuying experience and make it social on Facebook and Twitter.

Understanding How Consumers Use Real Estate Applications

As we continue to see new applications for real estate roll out, there are several reoccurring themes that we can count on. They will always utilize GPS, incorporate some kind of social networking feature, and they will continue to be media based with photos and videos. Real estate professionals need to tap into these new technologies and understand how today’s homebuyer shops. Giving these applications a test run will go a long way in discovering how homebuyers behave.

Trendwatching.com 2011 Trend Report

In a recent blog, I touched on the topic of the emerging “Urbanomics” trend as reported by Trendwatching.com.  In that blog I mentioned that urban homebuyers will be highly educated and well informed about the attributes they are looking for in a home.

In the same report, there is a section that focuses on the ever-evolving sustainable market.  In the report, there is a prediction that products that are green need to be superior to products that are not.  That means the Trendwatching.com thinks that the moral perks that come from buying sustainable products are not enough to truly influence the buying process.  This makes sense as builders and agents have learned that there are far more homebuyers looking to save money on energy than those looking to make a difference or save the planet.

The report presents some interesting statistics on consumers looking for green products.  According to the report, 40% of consumers say they are willing to purchase green products, but only 4% actually do when given the choice.  Also, 33% of global consumers think green products don’t work as well.

So in order to really reach those urban homebuyers, you are going to have to offer a superior product in their eyes, which also uses less energy.  The good news is that most of the products used in sustainable homes are superior to those that aren’t.  It all goes back to advertising those features clearly.

When it comes to the green movement, homebuyers care more about the looks and cost savings that come from sustainability.  According to the article, only 15% of consumers are green advocates while the other 85% are not willing to compromise style or function.  This means that homebuilders must be able to construct and sell sustainable homes that perform equally or better than non-sustainable focused ones and they must incorporate traditional architecture and aesthetics.

Among every age group, energy efficiency is a top priority.  This isn’t because homebuyers are green advocates.  It’s because they know that energy savings translates into money savings.  Experts suggest that sustainable homes be marketed in simple terms as most homebuyers want to know how a home will save them energy and money.  Surveys suggest that consumers do not respond well to complicated messages.  According to the article, “Focus on how much it costs to operate the home.”

Most consumers are under the impression that green products cost more presenting a sales challenge.  Since most consumers aren’t green advocates, they want to see where these costs will even out or when they will break even in energy savings.  At the end of the day, the majority of consumers are looking for a traditional looking home that will save them money.  Few are looking for a way to save the planet.

The recent 2011 version of the popular and authoritative ULI “Emerging Trends in Real Estate” report calls for a movement for compact real estate.  There is the believe that the real estate industry spurred this recession and it will take its recovery to get America out of it.

If you ignore the predicted economy and focus specifically on consumer generations you will see that a move to more urban settings is a result of millennial desires.  There has been a large decrease in potential homebuyers from the age of 35 to 40.  Historically, this is the age group that was buying larger suburban homes from the older baby boomers.  The problem is that there has been a 3.6 million-person reduction in the 35 to 40 year old age group.  In addition to this reduction, a lot of them aren’t having as many kids as the boomers.

There are also taste shifts away from “wide-open spaces” and extra bonus rooms to more vibrant, compact and social communities.  America’s urban cores are becoming extremely popular as a result of millennials desiring to live in Walkable communities.  While the ritzy suburbs will always have their place, taste and demographics are leaning more toward urban settings.  With an increasing attention on reducing carbon emissions, health, and climate change, extra density needs to be added to existing neighborhoods.

The good news is that there is something that can be done with existing neighborhoods that may lack some of these desired characteristics.  According to experts, the remodel era is upon us.  Existing structures need to be redeveloped around transit stops and jobs need to be created closer to home.