"Going Green"

You can hardly pick up a building industry related publication these days
without reading something about Green Building.

Builders began adopting what I will call “green methodologies” on a notable scale in the early 90’s and the evolution is slowly becoming mainstream. Ask anyone if they had a choice to build their project with sustainable, energy efficient, environmentally friendly products and practices if they would choose to do so, and a great majority will say yes.

In it’s infancy, green building was shrouded with misconceptions that caused many to run the other way. Among them were the perceived inflated costs which were thought to be associated with green. Although there was reason to be concerned about costs, the long term effects, or paybacks, were seldom taken into consideration. For example an energy efficient HVAC system can pay for itself in 7 or 8 years in energy savings. More sustainable, longer lasting products make for less maintenance and longer life spans. As more people are educating themselves and choosing green building, products are able to be manufactured in greater quantities and that, coupled with advancing technologies, is significantly lowering the cost of materials.
Some of the more common Green Building applications include using low or 0-VOC paints,(volatile organic compounds), and formaldehyde free plywood for subfloor sheathing for better indoor air quality, locating mechanical equipment and ductwork in conditioned spaces, using energy efficient windows which increase the homes r-value while still allowing the structure to breathe, radiant heat flooring, engineered radiant barrier plywood roof sheathing like Polar ply, by Polar-Ply Corporation.

The USGBC, (U.S. Green Building Council), has established 3 levels of LEED, (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), certification for green built homes starting with silver, then gold , and finally, the most stringent and eco-friendly of criteria, the platinum certification. For more information on LEED certification, go the USGBC website at www.usgbc.org. There are several organizations that provide different green builder certifications which tends to cause an information gap because, as of this writing, there is really no universally accepted definition of green. When a mutual acceptance of green standards occurs, and I believe this will be in the very near future, it will be a more widely recognized and accepted practice.
Check back as we update our green building resources periodically as more information becomes available

Author
Phil Vanderloo
Hiline Builders Inc.
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