Cost to build a green home

Building a green home is not about spending more money. It’s about spending the right money in the right place at the right time. A green home is more than just solar panels and high-efficiency appliances. It’s about making sure your home uses less energy and resources — from start to finish — so it lasts longer and costs less to run.

Green building practices can actually save you money over time by reducing operating costs, increasing home value, reducing maintenance costs and extending useful life of your home. Green building practices include:

Building envelope – Insulating, sealing and weatherizing the exterior of your house can reduce energy use by up to 30 percent.

Thermal comfort – Heating and cooling systems account for nearly half of a home’s energy use. Energy-efficient windows, doors, insulation and ventilation add comfort without sacrificing efficiency.

Water conservation – Water-efficient fixtures reduce water heating needs by up to 50 percent; low-flow faucets have an additional 15 percent savings. Low-flush toilets use one-fourth as much water as older models.

Materials selection – Materials with recycled content reduce virgin material usage and its associated greenhouse gases emissions from production; locally sourced materials reduce transportation

Cost to build a green home

Building a green home is not cheap. But green building features are not so expensive that they will have an impact on your budget. Most of the money spent on building a green home is for materials and labor, which are already part of the normal cost of building a house. In fact, many green building features can save you money in the long run by cutting down on energy bills.

Green building features include:

Energy efficiency. The more efficient your heating and cooling system, the lower your utility bills will be. Energy-efficient windows can save up to 15 percent on heating bills, while high-efficiency furnaces and water heaters can save 20 percent on gas or electricity bills each year.

Eco friendly house builders use renewable resources instead of fossil fuels to build their homes and neighborhoods, such as solar energy and geothermal energy sources like wind power which are both more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels such as coal or oil because they do not pollute our air with greenhouse gases resulting from their combustion. They also produce less waste than conventional construction practices since most of their materials come from recycled sources (e.g., old newspapers).

Rainwater harvesting systems use rainwater collected from roofs to flush toilets or irrigation systems rather than

eco friendly house builders

Green building is a rapidly growing segment of the real estate market. It’s also a highly competitive one, with dozens of companies offering green building products and services. The idea is to create homes that use less energy, water and other resources than traditional construction methods.

There are several different types of green homes, but they generally fall into two categories: net-zero-energy homes and passive houses. Net-zero-energy homes are designed to produce as much energy as they consume year-round (and often exceed that goal). Passive houses provide significantly more insulation than conventional construction, and they’re constructed using materials that don’t require heating or cooling systems at all.

Green home builders have several different strategies for achieving net zero energy use. Some focus on cutting down on the amount of electricity used by appliances and lights; others install solar panels; still others rely on geothermal heat pumps or other renewable sources of energy.