$4 billion for affordable + green homes
Enterprise Community Partners, the affordable-housing giant founded by Jim Rouse, wants to funnel $4 billion in the next five years to affordable housing that's also green. That's what it announced Wednesday, at the same time challenging builders to green up all affordable housing -- including the stuff that's already standing and would have to be renovated.
You can read more about the green affordable-housing initiative here. But once you've done that, I thought you might be interested in checking out what "green" can mean.
Enterprise has set its own criteria, which you can see here (in PDF form). It offers points for some construction choices -- up five for flooring that's neither carpet nor vinyl, 12 for picking a site near public transit, 14 for using materials with recycled content, etc.
But a number of actions are simply required. Low volatile-organic-compound versions of paints, primers, sealants and adhesives. Power-vented fans or range hoods in the kitchen that exhaust directly outdoors, for better indoor air quality. Energy Star appliances.
Enterprise says it has found that its rules add about $4,500 in extra costs per unit, but save $4,850 in utility costs alone over the useful life of the home. Hard to put a price on healthier indoor air, but the nonprofit group says it makes a significant difference for asthma sufferers.
Enterprise's criteria is hardly the only "build green" list out there. Best known is probably the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Homes, which Enterprise kept in mind when it redesigned its requirements last year. The National Association of Home Builders has its own green-home criteria, too.
Is there anything green about your home? Any green options you'd like (or not like)?
Comments
In my old apartment in Baltimore, I wished at least once a week that my windows had been more energy efficient -- one month my BGE bill got up to $269 for my one-bedroom place, and it hadn't even felt warm!
Now that I live in a relatively new townhouse (also a rental), it's nice that the water heater has extra insulation, the dishwasher is Energy Star certified and our electricity bills are less than half the peak at my old place.
Posted by: Justine | October 22, 2009 9:00 AM
Location-- within easy walking distance of our village center and about a mile away from a park 'n' ride into work so that at least 1/2 of us can use public transit.
Posted by: sh | October 22, 2009 3:57 PM
Jamie,
Great article by the way.
We've noticed a large number of green building programs nationally, that can vary from state-to-state - all affecting the "greenness" of a home. LEED for Homes has been around for awhile but certification can cost a lot of money, so LEED seems to be focused on green developments and the like. A LEED Certification can help with re-sale value, as well as other programs but how much increased value is hard to quantify.
Listed Green has seen a lot of "green washing" still going on, thats why we choose to edit the content ourselves. Automatic Databases can be a breeding ground for the not-so "green" homes in this current bloated marketplace.
We feel that more money available to the state run certification programs will go a long way in changing the way we currently build homes. The energy these homes consume is just a start when you compare the total cost of not-so sustainable building products out there.
David Syring
Founder and Content Manager
www.ListedGreen.com
Posted by: David Syring | October 28, 2009 1:36 PM
Where are the real green homes? Today's homes, even when designed to be "green" are much larger than earlier homes and have a much smaller household. Even with efficiency improvements, they are much more wasteful and generate more emissions than the smaller homes of the 50s.
Posted by: Canada Guy | November 2, 2009 10:43 AM