Defining Green

When it comes to addressing most of the challenges we face as a society, it is often said that change begins at home. This is an exciting prospect – that we can make a difference around the world by changing the way we live our daily lives – and nowhere is it truer than in our efforts to improve the heath of our planet, our communities, and our families. A greener home is the ideal place to start as we work toward a greener world.

According to the U.S Department of Energy, buildings’ energy use accounts for 39 percent of the United States’ carbon emissions, and the typical American family pays upward of $1500 a year in energy costs. Buildings’ designs often fail to make the most efficient use of water, an increasingly scarce and valuable resource. The materials used to build them are often harvested and transported in ways that are detrimental to the environment, and those same materials can release toxic chemicals that damage the health of building occupants. Americans spend roughly 90 percent of their day indoors, breathing air that is affected by the chemicals and products that fill our buildings.

This may all sound like bad news at first. In reality, the opportunity to make real change by building and renovating greener homes is great news. Families can save money, live in greater comfort and health, enjoy the durability of longer-lasting homes, and help in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation all at once. A truly green home makes efficient use of energy and water, is built with responsibly harvested and produced materials, has a healthy indoor environment, minimizes its impact on the land it sits on, and is inhabited by people who know how to live as green as possible. All kinds of homes can be green, from single-family detached homes to high-density apartments, and from luxury condominiums to townhouses to affordable housing projects. Green homes can be built green, or they can be renovated to be green. But green building and renovation are more than just the sum of a handful of green features. A green home is the result of a holistic, integrated plan where green features, systems, designs, and products complement each other and work as a sustainable whole.

If all this sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry. There are a host of tools out there to help you make the wisest green decisions in building or renovating a green home. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® for Homes rating system is like a nutrition label for green homes. LEED-certified homes have been inspected and rated by third-party experts, and they are given a score based on all the factors that go into making a home green. USGBC also offers The Green Home Guide at www.thegreenhomeguide.org, which provides more information on green homes, profiles of LEED-certified homes, and the free-to-download REGREEN Residential Remodeling Guidelines, which will guide you in detail through any type of green home remodeling project.

Good luck as you work to make your home part of the solution – for yourself, your family, your community, and our planet.

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A green product or practice is one that:

IMPROVES the indoor air quality of a home, thereby improving the health of the people who live in it.

LOWERS pressure on the environment through the use of products that support responsible manufacturing and sustainable harvesting of natural resources, such as lumber, water, and extracted minerals.

REDUCES the use of water throughout a home, thereby lowering the demands on freshwater sources and the energy-intensive infrastructure required to pipe, store, and purify it.

REDUCES the “carbon footprint” of a home – the amount of energy that will be burned to heat and cool a home over its lifetime – which calls for efficient appliances, lighting, windows and doors, and an energy-efficient building envelope.

REDUCES the chemical danger and exposure risks to people working on, or eventually living in, the home.