by Sage Kalmus

Created on: October 10, 2007

Is Green Architecture truly economically viable? How much does it really impact energy consumption? Those are the questions this article aims to answer.

To evaluate the true costs of a building over time, many factors need to be taken into account, far more than merely the initial design and construction costs. There's also:

* Operating costs ie. water, sewage, recycling, energy, etc

* Maintenance costs
* Repair costs
* Replacement costs
* Environmental/Social costs & savings ie. outside air emissions,. transportation, infrastructure, and worker productivity

Reviewing all these factors, it's easier to see how a conventional home, while arguably cheaper to build and purchase, can ultimately be more expensive to live in than a green home.

Green builders work hard to create homes that function as a single, integrated system rather than as a collection of separate parts that perform isolated tasks. The result is tremendous savings on frivolous costs.

Energy-efficient fixtures and appliances alone pay for themselves each month in the money saved on water, heating, and electricity bills. And the health benefits attained from living in a home with better ventilation and air and water quality are likely to severely lower your medical costs over time.

What's more, it may not actually cost more to construct or buy a green home than to construct or buy a conventional home. Nor does it necessarily cost more to renovate and remodel a conventional home into a green one than it does to renovate and remodel according to conventional standards. And that is only going to become more prevalent as time goes on. Why?

Because hand-in-hand with green building is green demolition.

As developers shift to a more environmentally sustainable mindset, buildings are being demolished more and more conscientiously every day. That means they're being torn down with the maximum reuse-ability and recycle-ability of their materials as a primary objective. The sheer reduction of waste in building materials lost to short-sighted demolition practices will almost certainly lead to a future reduction in home prices and remodeling costs. That's a huge cost-savings for everyone.

Evidence of the spreading awareness of green architecture and its benefits is the emergence of federally-backed Energy Efficient Mortgages, rewarding prospective homeowners for buying green homes and making energy efficient renovations to their existing homes.

If a certified "Energy Audit" of the home indicates that the energy improvements needed to achieve a specific "Energy Rating" would save you more money on average each month than it would initially cost to install those improvements, the added costs can be folded into your mortgage.

That means homeowners can now refinance their homes with the deliberate intention of making money-saving energy improvements and have those improvements "paid for". Yes, it's a loan that you'll eventually have to pay back, but you can easily pay off the extra loan amount with the money you'd be saving in both utility costs and medical costs.

On a whole, green architecture benefits our environment and our economy by advancing the transformation of our local and global marketplaces into ones that value environmental sustainability and human longevity right alongside our cherished consumerist values of comfort and convenience.

Learn more about this author, Sage Kalmus.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.