Myth #4 – Green houses look weird

Back about thirty years ago when the energy crisis happened, there were a bunch of new housing technologies experimented with. Structures like dome and earth homes suddenly were being built by universities and we were told they were going to be the next great thing.  Not.  There were also systems like double exterior wall designs,  SIPP’s and ICF’s which were all given birth during this time period.  None of these ideas have ever made it to the main stream building industry.

There is also a sub-culture of extreme green environmentalists that have proposed houses should be made  from things like hay, rubber tires and coke bottles, etc. Ridiculous!

Today, this idea of living in a green home is a home that looks exactly like any other, it just out performs the normal homes. Green houses don’t look weird and in many cases use products that you desire.

Myth #3 – Green Homes Are Less Comfortable

Some people think a green built home is less comfortable and requires sacrifice. That is simply untrue. A green built home is typically MORE comfortable than a traditional built home.  The reasons are many. For example, planning for natural lighting is a key strategy that we incorporate into a green built home. There is nothing that can make you feel better than having abundant natural light in the key living spaces. Another example, is the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. The systems are carefully designed on a room by room basis to make sure the temperature is even throughout the entire home. There are no hot and cold spots in summer or winter. Green built homes programs encourage smaller footprint, but there is a ton of attention paid to the livability. How do you use the home as you live in it? Too often new homes have 1,2,3 or more rooms that never get used.  A well designed green built home will have every room used nearly everyday. Spaces are planned for how you live, not a random plan you found on a web site that knows nothing about your family or lifestyle.  Green built homes also have all the same amenities of a traditional home.

Myth #2 – Green Building is More Expensive 

If a builder tells you it cost more…you have the wrong builder!

While it is true that any time you work to improve quality of a home there is an expense to it, that is not always true with green building. We have found that as we work to implement green building techniques that some of them actually save money.  

For instance, we typically look to stack our plumbing (called a compact plumbing design) to reduce the amount of hot water that turns cold in pipes and ultimately gets sent down the sewer.  By designing a home in such a way that the plumbing is stacked, you have less materials (piping) and labor to install the same number of bathrooms, kitchen, etc as you do when the pipes are spread out all over the house. On top of that, you are paying the City for the clean domestic water and then paying the City a second time when the clean unused domestic water, which turned cold in the pipes, goes down the sewer drain.  Water that is heated and unused in the pipes is a waste of energy too. 

Another example is our drawings always include detailed framing plans. I refuse to pay my CAD person any more to supply these sheets. From these sheets we do our own material take-offs allowing us to calculate the exact number and size of dimensional lumber needed to build the house. We typically order the wood to the site on a floor by floor basis and we always order a little short.  We explain to the framing sub-contractor that if they run out of wood, they have to pay for it because the proper amount has been supplied. Funny thing, they always manage to make it work with nearly no scrap.  The result…we don’t end up with a dumpster full of new dimensional lumber scraps. We save money on the dimensional lumber package AND dumpsters. In fact, we don’t even order out a dumpster until after the framing is done. 

This is just a few of the many-many examples I could share on how to save money implementing green building techniques. What we found is that as we focus on implementing green building we saved money in some places and spent money in others, the result of which is only a slightly more expensive home. 

In all cases we have been able to meet the customer’s budget and achieve greener homes. Bottom line, building green doesn’t mean it has to cost more.

Myth #1 – Green Homes are only for tree huggers.

Unfortunately, the word “green” carries with it a connotation that most regular everyday folks are repelled by.  The enviornmentalists who are the true believers cannot believe that regular everyday folks would not embrace the cause. In their minds, it is a no brainer.

As a life-long business guy trying to approach green building from the practical side of things, I find myself in constant conflict every time I attend a “green” event. I hate to say it, but even I am turned off at times by some of the attitudes I run into and I am a green builder trying to be part of the solution. At the core of the issue, is a group of people who think moderate improvements to say 50% energy savings is not green enough and that if you can’t afford to move to zero net energy you should live in an apartment. I am not kidding, these are the types of things that I have heard. Of course this type of approach will not win over the masses any time soon.

Don’t let the extreme environmentalist attitude hijack your opportunity to live in a wonderful quality new green home. Green building IS for everyone. It is within reach for most home buyers. At Amaris Company, we build quality green homes that are beautiful and are affordable. With an Amaris Home you get a healthier home, a safer home, a more durable home, a more energy efficient home that cost much less to operate AND you can feel good because the home will cut carbon emissions by 50%.