I know this is boring stuff, but a “green” builder must pay attention to every detail in the building process. Paying attention to details means you will have a better quality home in the end. A “green” builder will be able to discuss every aspect of the construction project as it relates to “green” attributes.

Building a “green” home encompasses all aspects of the building process. The LEED For Homes program includes Innovation & Design, Sustainable Sites, Location & Linkages, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Indoor Environmental Quality, Materials & Resources, Awareness & Education. The MN Green Star program is very similar.

The “green” attributes of a “green” home are well documented by the builder and are independently certified by a third party rater. This means you can be sure of what you are buying. In Minnesota there are two primary rating systems that measure the number of “green” attributes. The national program is sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the certification program for residential homes is called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) For Homes. The locally grown certification program is called MN GreenStar. There is also a number of other less rigorous “green” rating programs that tend to mislead buyers into thinking their home is “greener” than it is. If your home is certified under either of these two programs, you can be reasonably confident in the outcome.

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=147

http://www.mngreenstar.org/about-minnesota-greenstar/green-certification-programs-green-building-programs-overview

A “green” built home far exceeds the state building codes. Most people think when a construction project is built to state building codes they are getting the latest and greatest. State building codes actually represent the minimum building requirements a builder must adhere to. Think about that for a minute, people are spending 300K-1M or more on homes built to the minimum requirements. You wouldn’t buy any other product built to minimum standards and quality, but that is exactly what happens to the majority of home buyers. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense does it? A “green” builder will generally be more familiar with state building codes and how they are exceeding those codes and why. For example, Minnesota state building code requires that homes meet a HERS (Heat Energy Rating System) rating of 100% from a combination of insulation, building envelope tightness and energy usage. Energy Star Certification requires a HERS rating of 80%, which means your home is 20% more efficient than code. The last two “green” homes built by Amaris Company were in the range of HERS 46%, which is 54% more efficient than code and 34% more efficient than Energy Star. This is accomplished by higher insulation values, better products and a tighter building envelope. Not only does a home built with a lower HERS rating mean significantly lower energy bills forever, it means a more comfortable home that is not drafty in the winter or hot in the summer.

Unfortunately there a number of builders claiming they build “green” and are misleading buyers. It is kind of like claiming your product is “new and improved” and the only thing changed on the product is the label. It is true that every home built has some “green” attributes automatically built in to the home by nature of building to the minimum state building codes, but it is misleading to claim they are building a “green” home. What makes a “green” home green? I will attempt to answer that question over the next few days.