Green features! Many green programs award points for NOT having certain items: garages, air conditioning, etc. Is this fair?
Just because a builder is from the Northeast or Northwest and can build without an air conditioning system (try building a house in the Southern states with out A/C) or the geographical regions that detached or no garages could be built, should they get more points in the program?
My question is this: Should points or recognition be given for this or should we be held accountable to provide the best performing system for the geographical area that we build?
- Posted by GBCGC Executive Committee Member Thom Chumney.
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Members of the Green Building Council of Greater Columbia (SC) post articles and comments on local, state and national residential green building efforts. Comments and questions from the public are welcome. Learn more about the Green Building Council of Greater Columbia here.
2 comments:
Providing points for building homes without A/C or garages seems the wrong way to go. Building a marketable home that uses the least amount of energy should be more important than building one without A/C or garages. And providing a garage should really be a consumer preference – possibly a price trade off for more living space, or some alternate arrangement for “attractively” parking the car.
The more important aspect of future homes (built anywhere) will be the amount of energy required to operate the home vs. the cost of construction. Southern homes will always need some form of air conditioning, but the amount required will be determined by initial design considerations.
In cold climates, the design of the Passive Home has shown that no supplemental heating is needed to provide comfortable interior temperatures, even during the coldest winter days. All heat is generated internally from appliances and the activities of the inhabitants.
In southern climates, many of the Passive Home features can be incorporated as well. Homes that require modest or no heating in winter can be designed for southern climates to require minimum cooling as well. As new materials, home designs, and building practices move closer to complimenting one another, the features of the Passive Home will become more common throughout the country. And this will happen without awarding points for homes built without A/C or garages. Builders who provide the best performing home at appropriate pricing will find that buyers will come, regardless of geographic area.
It's interesting that your title is almost the answer to your question. Being "Green" is very dependent upon ones geography. What passes for smart in Canada would be absurd in Miami! Unfortunately, green programs must be all encompassing in order to hit as many different geographical regions as possible. They generally have points for multiple climate zones, which makes certain points unawardable in different regions. The "Built Green Columbia" Program actually modified a national program so the point system reflected the local climate conditions in which we live. It is paramount that any program and every builder understand that the point system is a means by which "green" can be verified by the consumer and therefore recognize a "Built Green" building as sustainable and/or high performance if sufficient points have been awarded.
I think it is important that every home is built to perform as a system, and that builders and home buyers understand that there are different levels of performance for non-green homes, and every "green" home based upon points awarded and the areas in which those points were awarded. Each level of "green" adds cost to any home built. However, a good "green" program will establish a minimum level at which a house can perform and still be considered "Green". If we all provided the best performing system for our geographical areas, we would all be off the grid.
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