Some people know what “green” means, many others think they do, and a fair amount of people still aren’t familiar with the whole “green buzz.” So let’s set the record straight when it comes to residential green building. What’s really green?

Who Decides What Green Means?
There are two non-profit entities that have done a good job of determining what green means. They are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) sponsored by the US Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) and there is the Minnesota GreenStar program (www.mngreenstar.org).

Both of these organizations believe in the same concept: construct our homes in a way that make them more efficient, with less waste and create a healthier environment to live in.

How Do They Decide?
Basically, designing and building a home that is “green” requires builders to adopt an entirely new process that is more of a systems approach. That means that we don’t look individually at trades like framing, plumbing, electrical, and landscaping. Instead we look at them holistically, all together as one. Here are some examples: How would new framing techniques affect our plumbing rough-in and our electrical labor? How would new insulation techniques affect our HVAC design? How does home orientation on the site affect our lighting?

There are (5) general categories in which LEED and MN Greenstar use to evaluate and certify a home. They revolve around:
1.    Site and Community - preparing the land where the home is built, and proximity to local services
2.    Energy Efficiency - energy related improvements to the home
3.    Resource Efficiency - using products & materials that are local, durable, recyclable or re-usable
4.    Water Conservation - less irrigation, low flow faucets and toilets and other non- potable water
5.    Indoor Environmental Quality - reduction in toxic-emitting products such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) & formaldehyde, proper ventilation & temperature/humidity control

In each category, the builder receives points for certain green characteristics that are adopted in the home, and the points are totaled up to determine how well the home scores. In general, there is silver, gold, and platinum ratings.

How Green is Mega Homes?
We recently tested ourselves on this question. What do we know about this and do we adopt some of these green characteristics into our homes? Well, the results were a little staggering - for the good!

We decided to really study the whole green movement, and research the latest products and design concepts. We separated them into two categories: concepts that were practical green concepts (required very little up-front investment) and those that threw the budget for a loop (required additional investment in the home)!

We incorporated all of the “practical green concepts” into our newest model home, The Tranquility - over 30 new items - and found that it did not impact our overall costs at all. Then, we compared our home to the MN GreenStar rating and found that we exceeded the Silver rating.

What’s the point of all this? Well, to build green does not always mean more expensive. Nor does it mean that we have to live in an earth home. If you’re interested in Practical Green approaches, contact me at danjaeger@mega-homes.com for more information.