Everything you need to know about Green Real Estate and an Eco Friendly Lifestyle.
If you think green real estate is hard then please read this article.
Hello all you Green Real Estate and Eco-friendly lifestyle lovers!
My mission is to help you identify properties and real estate that meet some or all of the 'green,' ‘eco’ or 'sustainable' criteria, both in building and operation. Whether you are buying a green home, hoping to green one in order to sell, or looking to make your present home and lifestyle eco-friendly, I hope you will find my future articles helpful and enjoyable.
Over time I will develop topics in greater detail, but for now I wanted to give a basic and by no means exhaustive overview of what a 'green' property or real estate might look like, and what makes it green. I will also highlight other green lifestyle choices, which enhance not only our lives, but also our pocket books, as well as giving us that warm fuzzy feeling!
One message I hope will pervade my posts... and that is I never, ever want to sound sanctimonious or holier than thou. Nothing is more repulsive than a new 'club' pushing its agenda, and the green movement is no exception. Green is a subject of which I am interested. Please draw from the information and Go Green! to the degree that feels right to you.
That said… let's talk about properties and what might make it green... These features might include (and I'll elaborate on each of them later) an array of the following:
- Deconstruction Vs Demolition in the construction
- Green materials, such as those reclaimed or reused from a previous building
- Green materials derived from an easily renewable source.
- Low or zero VOC paint.
- Green Power such as passive or low-use energy systems, solar panels, skylights and low-voltage lighting.
- Sensitive site orientation such that catches the winter sun, yet serves to block the more harsh summer sun.
- Durable, healthy, sustain-ably sourced building materials.
- Non-toxic building materials improving indoor air quality and health
- Permeable paving
- Zero or low water use gardens
- Landscaping with deciduous plants to aid/block solar gain.
Green! Green! Green! This is just a brief selection of features that can be added to infinitum. Not every green home will embody all features. The hope is that we are making choices in the direction of homes that are healthier for us to live in, cheaper to operate on a daily basis and kinder to the planet on which we live.
I believe that the future will prove such green choices to be not only more philanthropic, but wiser dollar for dollar given the documented move toward conscious consumerism. Ask yourself, if you had two homes, same price, with same basic design, but one is so called green and healthier for you to live in, costs less to run utilities and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling about helping the planet (not to mention bragging rights!) which would YOU choose?
The green one of course! What did I hear you say? Yes, the green, eco-friendly home. As the new saying goes… Green is the new black!
Thanks for visiting my Green Real Estate and Eco-friendly Lifestyle site.
