« March 2008 | Main | May 2008 »
April 27, 2008
Featured Program - Green Globes
Ordinarily I feature a regional green building program that strikes my fancy, but today it's Green Globes, a completely different animal. I'm not exactly sure what kind of animal, to be honest.
Green Globes impresses me more for their commercial offering than for their residential program, but their heart and effort seem to be in the right place. The commercial initiative has an online tool that allows a building desiger access to assessment protocols, a rating system, and a comprehensive guide to building green. The marketing is spiffy and comprehensive.
The residential component seems to serve as an add-on to local and regional green building programs, based on the NAHB guidelines. The material on the Green Globes site leaves me scratching my head to determine what added value they actually provide.
Can anyone enlighten me?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 10:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 24, 2008
How AIA/COTE Measure the Top 10 Green Buildings
Since 1997, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) has been creating a top ten list of green projects, and the honorees of 2008 take green to a whole new level.
While the list of projects is great (and suggested) reading, what really impressed me was the criteria AIA/COTE used to whittle down the list. We often talk about what it takes to make a building green, but AIA/COTE metrics of measurement are a marvel. Each project was rated against ten criteria, and many of these overlap the standard green building measuring stick like water conservation, energy efficiency and using environmentally responsible materials.
But, for homebuyers, or homebuilders, looking to go beyond EnergyStar appliances and extra insulation, AIA/COTE have come up with some wonderful approaches to get the imagination, and the design team, working on green.
Here are a few of my favorite benchmarks:
Number 2: Regional/Community Design & Connectivity.
Sustainable design values the unique cultural and natural character of a given region.
This sounds like a "feel-good" idea, but the implications are interesting. Besides making sure a new structure "fits" with the local community, the design must also provide a public space and a promote community interaction. To apply this to new home construction, how about bringing back the front porch or installing community gardens in large developments? Another aspect of this measurement is that buildings are rated on how well they reduce parking lots and promote alternative transportation. For new homes, integrating bike paths and lobbying for extended bus lines and car-pool lanes should always be on the table.
Top Ten Measure 4: Bioclimatic Design
Sustainable design conserves resources and maximizes comfort through design adaptations to site-specific and regional climate conditions. Building design should respond to local climate, sun path, prevailing breezes, and seasonal and daily cycles through passive design strategies.
By far one of my favorite common sense approaches to green building. This wisdom which served our species well for thousands of years was discarded with the invention of climate controlling appliances. It boils down to taking the time to understand the local weather patterns and then working with Mother Nature to create a more energy efficient and comfortable house. Site placement, natural shading, and simple venting can all be employed to reduce the energy load of a house year around.
Top Ten Measure 10: Collective Wisdom & Feedback Loops
Sustainable design strategies and best practices evolve over time through documented performance and shared knowledge of lessons learned.
In the world of individual home ownership, the power bill is the personal, but the impact of use is global. With this in mind, how better to evaluate a green building than to document your goals, evaluate your results, and share the information with the community?
I'm pretty sure that large production builders might balk at some of these ideas. Trying to create a unique building experience with a mass-production mentality is a challenge. But how different the new home market might be if homeowners know that there is more to green building than R-values and bamboo floors?
Posted by Andrew Hunt at 12:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 15, 2008
Marketing High Performance Homes (or not)
Building high performance homes isn't rocket science. The technology and processes exist, and in my book there's not much more research to be done to build homes that are significantly more efficient than code. But, just try selling them.
I was recently contracted to write a white paper on selling high performance homes for a client, which led me to interview a few of my old friends in the industry, Mark LaLiberte with Building Knowledge and Sam Rashkin with ENERGY STAR for Homes. It struck me while I was talking to them that the issue isn't technology anymore (yes, some of you will disagree). It's getting builders to understand that they can build their homes to higher standards of performance, use this to create a competitive edge, and effectively communicate the value to their homebuyers.
Who wouldn't want a comfortable home that doesn't have wicked wind blowing through the dining room when winter storms hit (i.e. my house)? Who wouldn't want to eliminate that whopper heating bill that makes you not want to open the envelope when it comes (i.e. my heating bill)? Who wouldn't want to feel like they were doing something right for the environment, in light of everything we're doing wrong? You don't need statistical analysis to show that well, MOST people would happily nod their heads at the opportunity to have a home that helped them with any one of those problems, let alone them all.
That said, there's boatloads of empirical data that shows that consumers will buy performance (see NAHB research results here if you're interested in some of the research). The problem seems to be, builders don't know how to sell it.
What have you seen that is a good strategy for selling high performance homes?
Posted by Stacy Hunt at 8:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
