Buying a Green Home - Navigating the maze of certification options

Have you ever thought about buying or building a “green” home? The benefits of owning or living in a high-performance green home are overwhelming. A green home will use less energy and less water than typical homes. So, you’ll have lower bills. How low depends on many factors but in some cases they could be next to nothing. Living in a green home will also be far healthier and more comfortable for the occupants. And, the construction process will create less waste and utilize fewer natural resources than other homes. While many believe green homes are expensive, it need not cost much more than a standard home, though that could depend mainly on the choices you make. Even if the up-front price is a bit higher, the net cost of owning a high-performance home is usually comparable to or lower than that of owning a conventional home built to code specifications.

There are more builders than ever in the triangle that can offer you a green house. But there are many shades of green when it comes to home building. With several different certification programs and different definitions of green, buying a green home may not be quite as simple as choosing a higher mileage car. There are over 80 green building certification programs in the US at the moment. And five different schemes are established in North Carolina. Plus, there are numerous excellent custom homebuilders who have been building solid homes for years that would most likely qualify under some certification program. Often builders build “green” without certification because that can add several hundred to a few thousand dollars to the cost of construction. However, having the certification will no doubt add to the selling price of your home in future.

When looking for certified green homes in North Carolina, you’ll come across five main programs. These are: Energy Star, NAHB Green Building Initiative, Healthy Built Homes, System Vision and LEED-H.

Bear in mind that the programs are, to a very large extent, designed for the builders. Many of these are very similar and it need not matter much which program your green home is certified under. But having a certification can increase the value of your home as well as making it more sellable. And with Energy Star, which is included in most of the other certifications, you will qualify for a 5% reduction in energy bills from Duke or Progress Energy.

Energy Star
This is a government program available nationally. As the name suggests, the focus is energy efficiency. However the program also offers an Advanced Lighting Package and an Indoor Air Package as options to raise the standard higher and broaden the scope. Generally, Energy Star is considered to be an entry level green home or the palest shade of green. The basic requirement is that a home be 15% more energy efficient than a standard code-built home. Homes are independently tested and verified to ensure they meet the criteria before being awarded the certificate. Homeowners of Energy Star certified homes enjoy a 5% discount on their electricity rates from Duke Energy or Progress Energy.

There are so far nearly 4000 Energy Star homes in North Carolina, though we’re still fairly low on the national rankings. But there are over 400 builders now registered with Energy Star and most of them are listed as new partners that have not yet certified a home. This seems to show the program is growing quickly and will expand considerably.

Energy Star is also a prerequisite for many of the other programs. So a home may be Energy Star certified and have one of the other available certifications as well.

NAHB Green Building Initiative (GBI)
This program is administered by local a Home Builder Association (HBA). The Durham-Orange-Chatham group was the first in North Carolina to promote the program. It now has 169 members and 108 certified homes. Recently, Wake county HBA joined with the Durham-Orange-Chatham green group adopting their GBI scheme. Greensboro’s HBA has also established their own green council and is promoting the program too. Other areas like Wilmington are likely to follow a similar path.

This program offers three levels of certification, bronze, silver and gold. In order to achieve one of the certification levels a home must earn a certain number of points – 257 for bronze, 415 for silver, 549 for gold. For each level there are certain minimum required for various categories. For example in the resource efficiency category there are 198 possible points, but to earn bronze the home must have at least 44 points in this category, or 60 for silver. That ensures homes earn points across the spectrum.

Some green builders have criticized the GBI program for setting the bar too low, and it while it is not arduous to achieve a bronze level, it still requires extra work and extra costs on the part of the builder. And the higher levels silver or gold, are quite difficult to earn.

The GBI program, by being more builder-friendly than others, is growing rapidly and should be applauded for bringing green more into the mainstream of home building and making green homes more widely accessible.

Healthy Built Homes
This program is administered by the Solar Center at NC State in Raleigh. It was established with the intention of providing a program for small to medium sized builders, that is tailored to the North Carolina climate and environment. To date, 104 builders are registered with the program and over 125 homes have been built to this standard, with a further 198 in progress. It has become particularly well established in the Western North Carolina market where it is administered by the Western NC Green Council (WNCGC).

This program has four levels: Certified, Bronze, Silver and Gold. And like most other programs points are awarded in a variety categories with a minimum point score needed in each. The program has Energy Star as a prerequisite and it also gives credit for participation in the System Vision program.

Healthy Built Homes has the advantage of being home grown and specifically tailored to the North Carolina market. Depending on the level, it can go well beyond Energy Star in terms of energy efficiency and, in particular, in terms of indoor environmental quality. Supporters of the program cite its more stringent third-party verification requirements. Though that makes it a bit more costly to implement than others.

System Vision
This program aims to raise the standard of affordable homes throughout North Carolina. It is managed by Advanced Energy, a non-profit organization in Raleigh that is focused on building science and industrial technology. The program offers a $4000 per home grant to builders to help offset the added costs, though some of that goes back to Advanced Energy to administer the testing and verification. To qualify, a homebuyer must show that their income is below 80 percent of the median income for that region.

The program requires strict testing and higher specification heating and air conditioning equipment. In return they also guarantee heating and cooling bills will not exceed a set level which is typically in the range of $25 to $30 per month.

The program has certified 1557 homes thus far and seems to be accelerating in its acceptance.

LEED for Homes
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program for new commercial construction has been an enormous success nationwide. It was created seven years ago by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). One of several new programs within the LEED family is the Homes program, called LEED-H, which has just emerged from its pilot phase and is now available in North Carolina. The program will be administered locally by the Healthy Built Homes program in Raleigh.

So far, very few homes in North Carolina have achieved the LEED-H certification. The program has only recently selected a local provider in the Healthy Built Homes program. So it remains to be seen how successful it will be in this market when other established rating systems are flourishing. The main advantage that LEED seems to have over the other programs is the national brand recognition, which it has from its commercial programs.

Conclusion
All of the various available programs are excellent. So if you’re buying a ready built home with a green certification you should pat yourself on the back for making a contribution to sustainability. Of course, you’ll be saving money on energy bills and you’ll enjoy a healthier, more comfortable home. If the outright cost of the home is higher than a comparable non-green home, be sure to compare the extra monthly mortgage cost you’d be paying against the savings on your utility bills. Then consider how the value of a healthier environment for you and your family – fewer sick days, reduced chances of asthma and other debilitating illnesses and so on.

If you want to build a custom home, talk with your builder about which certification system he’s comfortable working with and even whether or not it’s worth getting the certification in your case. Consider that a certified home will most likely add considerably to the resale value in years to come. As energy prices increase and as awareness of indoor air quality issues is raised, the value of green homes will go up relative to their non-green cousins.

Paulo Nery
Practical Eco

Web Links
www.energystar.gov
www.hbadoc.com
www.hbawake.com
www.healthybuilthomes.org
www.systemvision.org
www.usgbc.org