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Archive for the ‘Target Green Level’ Category

Green Certification Part 2 – The Categories

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Once the target level has been established (e.g. Certified, Silver, Gold Platinum) the specific areas the points will come from needs to be determined. As a builder, we typically would draft a specification for your home that outlines the specific points the project will target. Below, is the LEED for Homes categories and potential points available for each category. Starting with blog posts in 2010, we will begin looking at each of these categories and attempt to make complicated simple. Until then, stay safe this New Years and see you soon.

Green Certification Part #1 – Certification Levels

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

At this point over the last month or so we have:
1. Set a preliminary budget and discussed the must haves, wants and desires (FIRST MEETING)
2. Gotten on the same as to what it means to build green (GREEN HOME FACTS PART #1-5)
3. Selected a Lot (LOT SELCTION PART #1-4)
4. Purchased a Lot & Determined the Maximum Building Footprint (LOT SELCTION #5)
5. Discussed the Building Size & What Floors Each Room Will Be On (DOES SIZE REALLY MATTER #1-3)

At this point, we will be able to preliminarily determine the “points” level required to reach the different certification levels for your home. An Amaris Company home is typically targeted at “Gold” as the minimum certification level and represents our minimum building standard. Platinum requires one or more “green” attributes not normally found on a home such as solar panels, geothermal heating, advanced landscape plans, etc. This level can only be achieved by investing additional dollars into specific green items and we have not found it to be obtainable with adding to the budget. This is a personal decision for the family to make.

** Chart taken from LEED For Homes Guidebook