Want a green house? Prepare to be confused

Homebuyers typically pay 3 to 5 percent more for a “green” home, or about $10,000 extra on $300,000 home. But advocates say the extra costs quickly pay for themselves in savings on water and power.

Green residential projects run the gamut, from individual custom homes to entire green subdivisions, such as the 55-acre Oak Terrace Preserve under way in North Charleston, S.C., which touts its pedestrian-oriented layout, environmentally friendly rainwater drainage systems and 374 energy-efficient homes.

In New York, the residential high-rise is going green. The Albanese Development Corp. is building a 33-story, 250-unit condominium tower in lower Manhattan called The Visionaire, which relies on solar power to cut energy costs and a water conservation system to reduce water usage. Recycled water from bathrooms and kitchens will resupply toilets and provide water for the building’s heating and cooling system. Rainwater will be collected and stored for use on a rooftop garden, which provides additional insulation for the building.

Albanese Development built a similar 27-story apartment complex called the Solaire in 2003 and has several more green high-rise projects planned. “It’s the only way we think right now,” said Michael Gubbins, the company’s president. “It’s about building a better product.”

Harvard Communities Harvard Communities President John Keith talks with Amanda Bybee, owner of solar installer Namaste Solar, about a solar installation planned for homes in Denver's Stapleton neighborhood.

Polly Brandmeyer notices the difference living in a green building. The 35-year-old mother rents a unit in the Solaire, and she raves about the ventilation system, which, unlike most New York apartments, doesn’t blow in dry heat in the winter that cracks furniture or blow in black grime in the summer. That’s especially nice, she said, since the apartment is near the World Trade Center site with its heavy construction.

“To go back to the old way of living it would be a total setback, a step down,” said Brandmeyer. “We’re happy to have that extra layer of filtration in our building.”

It can be hard to show consumers those kinds of benefits in advance, said John Keith, president of Harvard Communities, which is building 40 green homes this year, most of them on the site of Denver’s former Stapleton Airport.

Much of what makes Harvard Communities' homes green is decidedly unsexy, Keith said, because most of the features are not visible to consumers. Buyers want to talk about granite countertops, not how Harvard uses less wood in framing for better insulation or how contractors are coached on how to better seal windows so air doesn’t escape the house. To pique buyers’ interest, Harvard started including a 2.8-kilowatt rooftop solar system as a standard feature on the homes. “It’s hard to get people excited,” Keith said.

The green features, along with design and location, appealed to Dr. Stephen Leong, a 35-year-old oncologist who bought a $700,000 house from Harvard in April. Leong said he recognizes the toll people are taking on the environment and he likes the idea of controlling rising energy costs. But he didn’t start out searching for a green home. “But once the choice was available, it helped sway my decision,” he said.

Time ultimately will decide which set of rules will become the norm in homebuilding. Until then, home buyers should guard against “greenwashing” by home builders who tout a house as green despite only minimal changes to traditional construction.

Consumers should look for third-party certification and carefully research the standards used by a builder, said Gilchrist of Global Green. Determine your own priorities, she said, such as lowering electricity bills or perhaps improving air quality for an asthmatic child, and then find the rating system that best matches them. Global Green offers a helpful guide to learn more about various green building certification programs.

MORE FROM GOING GREEN

Going Green Section Front

Japan Airlines plans biofuel test flight Best Buy testing free e-waste recycling program UPS not placing all its green bets right now Publishing convention not quite green How to cultivate a 'green mortgage' More businesses embrace greener commuting Pest control business turns greener It's not easy being green, Hollywood discovers Fuel economy standard will be 31.6 mpg The ‘green’ way to dump electronic junk Going Green Section Front   Add Going Green headlines to your news reader: