Built Green: Hype or Substance?
My recent trolling of Seattle real estate listings has turned-up several homes boasting that they’re Built Green. Sounds great, but what does Built Green really mean? Is it more than a new millennia marketing catch-phrase?
The Built Green™ certification is awarded to homes that meet certain green standards. The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties issues a 1-5 Star rating for a given project. Levels 1-3 are self-certified, meaning you take the builder’s word for it; levels 4-5 are certified by a third-party.
For green-minded folks, the program is one more way to ensure their new home is Earth friendly. To achieve certification, homes are evaluated using Built Green Checklists that cover the following areas:
- Site and Water
- Energy Efficiency
- Indoor Air Quality
- Material Selection
If you’re interested in a certifiably green home, make sure to review the checklists thoroughly and develop a sense of which areas are most important to you. If you’re sensitive to environmental contaminants, for example, you’ll probably be more interested in the the Health and Indoor Air Quality checklist items than the Alternative Energy rankings.
Overall, I believe the Built Green program is a good thing. It holds builders to certain green standards and removes the green guess work for typical home-buyers. After viewing several Built Green homes though, I’m still not convinced of their aesthetic achievements. Many of the siding materials leave me cold. I ’spose that’s a personal thing.
I’ve no doubt the siding materials are indeed green, but I wonder how they’ll weather time? I can point to a couple of buildings with these same types of siding that after just two-three years appear water-stained and tacky.
Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe for some green trumps ugly? Or maybe for now function outweighs form in the fledgling movement.
If you’re in the market for a green home, check out these listings. The interiors, at least, seem uniformly sweet.
3061 NE 97th St Seattle, WA 98115 Price: $795,000
116 25th Ave S Seattle, WA 98144 Price; $475,000
1905 E Pine St Seattle, WA 98122 Price: $699,000
1521 18th Ave B Seattle, WA 98122 Price: $449,900
Blog Digest | Redfin Seattle Sweet Digs said:
[...] Wallingford « Built Green: Hype or Substance? [...]
June 16, 2008 8:55 PM
Loan me some Greenbacks: Exploring the Eco-Mortgage | Redfin Seattle Sweet Digs said:
[...] daily with green this, eco that. Earth-friendly fashion, planet-kind cleaning supplies, even carbon-conscious construction. Granted, it’s easy to fathom a green product — something you can sink your teeth (and your [...]
June 18, 2008 10:02 AM
Graham Black said:
Thanks Redfin for putting my project at 19th and Pine on the blog. I think a lot about the hype v. substance issue in green building, and would like to believe that the two are not mutually exclusive. To some extent the green building movement should be proud that all things green have been co-opted by the marketeers. It was the people at the fringe who were buidling green years ago that raised everyone’s levels of apprecation. For me, instead of shmearing green lipstick on houses, the meaningful frontier is sourcing locally and resourcefully.
June 21, 2008 2:09 PM