"In the U.S., buildings account for 65% of our electrical consumption, 30% of raw materials use, 36% of total energy use and over 50% of greenhouse gas emissions." Residential buildings account for over 40% of those totals.¹

"The typical residence in the United States produces more air pollution than a car." 

"A growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. For many people, the risks to health are greater due to exposure to air pollution in their homes than being outdoors."

"The average American uses about 90 gallons of water each day (compared to 56 gallons per day in the EU) in the home and each American household uses approximately 107,000 gallons of water each year."

¹U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, March 2001, Monthly Energy Review

John Van Doren

We're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy. Sustainable or green building is BIG business and growing rapidly. Today, residential green building is already a $7.4 billion market. By 2010, that number is projected to grow as much a five-fold to between $19 and $38 billion!

The idea of energy efficient, healthy buildings has been around for a long time, so why now? Why is the concept of "sustainable building" entering the mainstream and catching the attention of the fortune 500's? There are probably several reasons; 1) Global Warming, 2) Rising Energy Costs, 3) Awareness and Liability Costs associated with "Sick Building Syndrome, 4)Declining Oil Reserves, 5)Concerns about our water supply, the list goes on, but whatever the reason or reasons, its time has come.

Which begs the question, what is IT?

My personal definition is simple.  A home's design is “green” if its serves to reduce many of the  harmful impacts of buildings on our environment and the home's inhabitants. "green" home design revolves around four key issues:

• Designing for energy efficiency including the use of renewal energy sources such as wind, geothermal, and solar.
• Creating a healthy indoor air environment with adequate ventilation and making material choices that minimize volatile organic compound (VOC's) outgassing within the home.
• Providing for the efficent use of water via appliance, faucet, and shower head choices and in arid climates by zeroscaping and recycling grey water and capturing rain water for landscaping and other non-potable uses.
• Specifying building materials and resources that are sustainable and produce a minimal amount of upstream environmental impact. 

However, there is a difference between green and sustainable. The words “green” and “sustainable” are often used interchangeably, and sustainable has a more precise meaning that is often obscured, distorted, and diluted by the commercialization and marketing of the green “movement”. In the context of our built environment sustainable takes its meaning from “sustainable agriculture“, or “the ability … to produce food indefinitely, without causing irreversible damage to ecosystem health”. If we accept this as the basis for the definition of sustainable building everything changes. For example, a 5,000 SF home with a HERS index of 70, bamboo floors, and Energy Star appliances may be “green”, but it is NOT sustainable. In the context of Global Warming and even the most optimistic projections of Peak Oil and Gas, only a home that meets zero energy standards can be considered sustainable.  By zero energy I mean that the building shell must be designed (including passive heating and cooling elements) so that renewable energy sources like solar can be reasonably used to provide all power requirements.

To support our mission to help create thoughtful responsible home designs that contribute to a cleaner, healthier environment for us all, we publish a quarterly newsletter with useful information for building professionals, homeowners, and the general public about healthy, energy efficient, sustainable home design.

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