Policymakers Imagine a Contributing Role for 130+ Million (Greener) Homes

Jeremy Sigmon, LEED® AP BD+C
Director, Technical Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Even in a still struggling economy, green building policymaking continues. To celebrate some of the impressive progress this year, USGBC partnered with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL) to convene key state lawmakers in Chicago this past Tuesday during the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The most notable successes to date have been in the proliferation of green schools policymaking – more than 80 bills in 28 states this year alone.

Big buildings – like schools, office buildings and civic structures – capture a lot of the limelight in green building policy and practice. Rightfully so, you might say, due to their typically large social, economic and environmental footprint. But in a nation with more than 130 million homes and growing, the numbers point to a similarly important opportunity for residential buildings to make important contributions to a more sustainable future.

Access the policy brief.

At Tuesday’s event, the group of leading state policymakers explored how government could help augment the potential of residential buildings to contribute to achieving sustainability goals. We introduced a new policy brief to answer that question: Green Homes are Better Homes.

To date, USGBC counts more than 400 public policy initiatives that promote or advance green building and LEED. Only 25 of these, however, make a concerted effort to leverage all that a green home can contribute to a greener neighborhood or community. (If I’m missing one you know about, please do send it in!) New Mexico and Cincinnati have probably had some of the most celebrated successes with their programs, and New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo just approved a bill last month that would allow New York municipalities to offer similar, powerful incentives.

Of course, Adam Smith would argue that the Invisible Hand of the free market, too, has a critical role to play. But efficient and transparent systems for sellers and buyers of green homes aren’t yet widely available. We’ve got a campaign for that: Highlight Green Homes. And while the market may eventually provide adequate and appropriate housing for all, healthy and efficient affordable housing is needed today. We’ve got a campaign for that, too: Value Healthy and Efficient Affordable Housing. And to accelerate the market uptake of green homebuilding practices, our Leadership with LEED campaign promotes incentives for building green homes that are verified and tested by a third-party, like a LEED for Homes Green Rater.

The Value of Green Labels in the California Housing Market

Nils Kok
Visiting Scholar
University of California, Berkeley

When shopping for a new car, one of the most prominent features on display is the miles-per-gallon (MPG) usage of the vehicle. There is an EnergyGuide label for dishwashers, clothes washers and other appliances, and an Energy Star label for the most efficient appliances. But when buying a home, there is usually no information on its energy efficiency — which is strange, considering the substantial impact that monthly expenditures on electricity, gas and water have on disposable income. For many people, energy is the single largest monthly expense after mortgage or rental payments.

Photo credit: Zeck Butler Architects

The recent surge in the labeling of more efficient, “green” homes should therefore be good news for people who want to make a more informed decision when purchasing a new home. In Europe, an energy label for homes has been in place for some years now, providing prospective homebuyers with a simple assessment on the energy efficiency of a dwelling. Consumers seem to value this type of information: a large-scale study on the effect of energy labels on the selling prices of homes in the Netherlands shows a price premium for more efficient homes.

Now there is comparable evidence for the U.S.

Transforming Buildings, Even the Little Ones: 20,000 LEED-certified Homes

Nate Kredich
Vice President of Residential Market Development
U.S. Green Building Council

20,000: No, I’m not talking leagues under the sea. I’m talking LEED-certified homes.

That’s right: I’m particularly proud to announce that we’ve certified over 20,000 LEED for Homes units.

It’s interesting to look at a sampling of the projects we’ve certified in just the past couple of weeks to see the reach and versatility of LEED in the residential space:

• Eight LEED Platinum certified affordable homes in the Coconut Cove development in Cape Coral, Florida, developed by Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation, Inc. and built by Owen-Ames-Kimball Company
• AMLI at Escena, the first two LEED Gold low-rise multifamily buildings in Texas, built by AMLI Residential
• KAPSARC Villa B-19 in Riyadh, one of the first LEED for Homes International Pilot projects to certify - located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the LEED Silver home is one of 191 single family production homes built by SK Engineering and Construction as part of Phase I for KAPSARC

KAPSARC Villa B-19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabi by SK Engineering & Construction

Since LEED for Homes launched as a rating system in 2008, 51% of our certified homes qualify as affordable housing, a statistic of which we are very proud.
Also of note has been the trajectory for the LEED for Homes program. Consider:

• The 1st 1,000 certified homes (pre-pilot) took 31 months – or an average of roughly 32 homes/month
• 1,001 – 5,000 took 18 months – 222/month
• 5,001 – 10,000 took 12 months – 416/month
• 10,001 – 20,000 took 13 months – 769/month

Pretty nice growth, huh?

AMLI at Escena in Texas, built by AMLI Residential

Enormous thanks goes to our incredible LEED for Homes community and its continued commitment to transforming all buildings…even the little ones, that happen to matter most of all.

Read the press release »

Green Building Progress in the Southeast: Part 1

Jeremy Sigmon, LEED® AP BD+C
Director, Technical Policy
U.S. Green Building Council

Take a seat. Lose your stereotypes. Grab a few hush puppies and a glass of sweet tea. Here’s a few highlights you may have otherwise missed about how energy efficiency and green building is moving forward in the Southeast.

Part One: Mainstreet Green in Music City

The Nashville Ledger reports today: “when it comes to new houses, green is the new granite.” Healthy, high-performance homes in Middle Tennessee are not only in high demand, they are emerging as part of homebuyers’ minimum expectations. The Ledger cites estimates that builders are supplying approximately one third of new residential construction starts with a green building label. The Volunteer State is home to more than 1,000 homes that are participating in the LEED for Homes program, including 246 that are already certified, 199 (or 80 percent) of which are designated as affordable.

Green buildings and green homes are generally designed to create comfortable, healthy indoor environments that reduce our impact on the environment while saving energy, water and money. The City of Nashville sees a further benefit of one of the less frequently applied green building methods to reduce the strain on both Metro Nashville’s combined sewer system and also the Cumberland River.

Highlighting Green Homes by Greening the MLS

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

In recent years, there has been a boom in the construction industry and demand for green homes even while the real estate market continues to struggle. This is a clear sign that prospective buyers find value in green homes. Studies show that green home construction is growing, and more and more home buyers are listing green attributes like energy efficiency as a top priority when looking to buy a home. And when homes do sell, green homes sell for more.

But while this trend is very positive, the reality is that most buyers have trouble finding certified efficient, green homes in their area because the real estate infrastructure used by the industry doesn’t allow this information to be shared. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the primary platform for listing and selling a home through a realtor, lags far behind the market in most regions in reflecting the energy efficiency and green building information those prospective buyers want to see. Of the 860 MLSs nationwide, less than 100 include searchable green data fields. Such fields include information on things like third party certification standards like LEED for Homes certifications or HERS Index scores.

Unreasonably BOULD: A Social Enterprise for Affordable Homes and Green Building Education

Shane Gring
Co-Founder + Director of Operations
BOULD

Imagine a world where potential is not governed by what we're told to be, the only fear is not giving enough, and business-as-usual, is a little more...unreasonable.

As a USGBC Emerging Professional, Colorado Chapter member, and young social entrepreneur, this is the world I’m working to create.

After a year serving Flatirons Habitat for Humanity (Boulder, Colorado) as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I approached a fork in the road. Do I confirm my acceptance to graduate school and pursue my Masters of Architecture? Or, do I pursue a slightly less conventional path: one filled with incredible potential, but also substantial uncertainty?

Two years later, after the completion of 17 LEED-registered affordable homes, the training of 115 now-qualified LEED Professional exam candidates, and fundraising of $20,000 for affordable housing builders, you will see that I chose the latter.

In 2010, at age 23, I co-founded a social enterprise, called BOULD, with the ambitious mission to eliminate substandard housing through green building education.

BOULD staff, Brian Brunsing in action at a LEED Platinum seeking Habitat for Humanity home in Boulder, Colorado

Here’s how it works. First, we train local affordable housing builders (AHBs), like Habitat for Humanity, to transform housing projects into structured, green building classrooms for career developing professionals and students. Our program, EverbuildPRO, provides leadership opportunities at all phases of a project: from design development to LEED documentation to on-site construction. Upon program completion, participants have the project experience they need to qualify for LEED accreditation, the world’s preeminent green building credential. Then, in return for the opportunity, professionals pay a tuition fee that is shared between BOULD and the AHB, making “green” affordable and accessible for all.

Congressman Quigley Visits LEED-Certified, Net-Zero Home in Chicago

Bryan Howard
Legislative Director
U.S. Green Building Council

Last Monday, Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois 5th Congressional District paid a visit to the home of Jacek Helenowski to get a firsthand look at one of the highest scoring residential LEED for Homes projects to date - and one of the first net-zero energy homes in Chicago. His goal was to see in-person the technology on display in his north Chicago Congressional District.

Quigley is no stranger to green building and design. In 2002, while a Commissioner for Cook County, he was instrumental in drafting and passing an ordinance requiring LEED certification of all county buildings. The ordinance also calls for each modernized county building to achieve certification through the LEED for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance (EBOM) rating system.

Since being elected to Congress in 2009, he continues to advocate for sustainable solutions for the built environment. He has voted to create new funding opportunities for K-12 institutions to update their facilities in an efficient, high-performing fashion. He has also been a co-sponsor of legislation to incentivize integrated community planning and to expand Federal procurement of more green products.

So, it is worth taking note when a green building aficionado is impressed by what he sees.

“I have been fighting for greener living since before I was elected to public office over a decade ago, so it’s an honor to have such an achievement in my district,” said Quigley.

The Helenowski’s home renovation has clearly been a labor of love. From the use of insulation made from local soybeans to the wood reclaimed from a Chicago building fire, no detail was left unnoticed. It is a great demonstration of innovation and what dedicated people can accomplish when they have a goal.

“My hope is that this is the future of construction - because as the Helenowski family has shown us, it is a boon to the local economy, saves on energy costs, and is terrific for our environment,” added Quigley.

While this home is what builders and homeowners may aspire to, there is a lot that can be accomplished without installing a vegetative roof or a geothermal system. The new LEED for Homes Scoring Tool allows builders to explore LEED for Homes in an easily-navigable system. One of the features is a QuickScore option, where users can answer some general questions about their project and get preliminary feedback on where their project might be rated, along with a list of actions and measures that would need to be addressed. This is an incredibly useful resource to see how current and future projects compare to reaching LEED for Homes certification. For homeowners looking to for tips on making smaller projects green and how to connect with local green building professionals, check out www.greenhomeguide.com.

For more information on the LEED for Homes visit: usgbc.org/homes.