Q: Which green certification is best for my house?
A: Good question- I get asked all if time which green certification is the best. It really depends on the situation. Not all certifications are friendly to every situation while some of them actually overlap. Use the process of getting the certification to make the house greener and let the certificate be the reward for your sustainable choices. Not every sustainable choice is going to be on the checklist, so you can go above and beyond as well. The checklists typically cover how you develop the land to how the house is build, it does not cover how you occupy the house.
Here are some of the certificates that we offer at The Hoots Group. Use this as a guide to see which one is best for you in your path towards a more sustainable lifestyle and space.
Residential New Construction
“LEED for Homes” is great. This program is sponsored by the USGBC. We have built to these standards and this is perceived to be one of the more holistic checklists out there. You can build one of these anywhere in the US. You will need to make sure that you have a certifying agent working with you from day one so you can make it to the end. If you are in the Atlanta area you can build the house with us and we have partners that can certify it for us.
EarthCraft House. This program is our own local program and is available throughout the SouthEast. It is very similar to LEED for Homes and if you get this one or LEED you will most likely qualify for the other one as well.
Existing Homes
EarthCraft has a renovation program as well. It is called EarthCraft Renovation. The worksheet is very similar. If you are renovating your house, and follow this checklist you can see a great savings in energy costs if you look at making your whole house more energy efficient. The upgrade is nominal compared to the rest of the construction costs yet the benefits are outstanding. Most of our clients see at least 30% savings up to 70% per square foot on utility costs.
For existing homes where you are not renovating, consider Home Performance with Energy Star. This is a nationwide program that is sponsored by the EPA. It takes their Energy Star processes and give a guide to contractors and homeowners on a retrofit basis. This process starts out with an assessment from a qualified agent and with the report you get a prioritized list based on fastest return on safety and energy savings. For all of our EarthCraft renovation projects, we start them out with an Home Performance with Energy Start assessment so we can see how much of an improvement was made.
For both of the renovation programs, you document existing conditions to use as a baseline to see how much improvement you made. There is a threshold that you must meet in order to get the certificate.
For all of the programs- in GA you can either list the component upgrades or the certification on our multiple listing service. This is good if you are trying to market your home to another green buying, or if you are trying to find an existing green home. Check in with your green real estate agent for more details.
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