Building Green | News
Green Homeowners Are More Satisfied - And Motivated By Cost
NAHB and McGraw-Hill Construction Release New Survey at the National Green Building Conference
March 26, 2007 - A new home buyer survey finds a high rate of customer satisfaction among those who have purchased green homes – and that 63 percent of buyers are motivated by the lower operating and maintenance costs that come with energy- and resource-efficient homes.
NAHB and McGraw-Hill Construction, which conducted the research, released preliminary results of the findings at the 9th Annual National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Conference in St. Louis. It represents the first time the true green home market has been sized, screening out green home owners from a representative panel of U.S. home owners.
These home owners say they are extremely happy with their investments, with 85 percent saying they are more satisfied with their new green homes than with their previous, more traditionally built homes.
“We’re excited that green homeowners are so happy, and that this new research quantifies this customer satisfaction. But we are certainly not surprised,” said Ray Tonjes, chairman of the NAHB Green Building Subcommittee and an Austin, Texas home builder. “NAHB and its members have been leaders in the voluntary movement to increase the efficiency and quality of homes in America. This suggests we’ll maintain our market share and only continue to grow.”
The new survey also backs up recent finding by the NAHB Economics staff that interest in green remodeling continues to grow: About 40 percent of those who have recently completed home remodeling or renovation work in their homes reported that they used green products or materials, the McGraw-Hill Construction research found.
In a survey of NAHB builders that the company conducted last year, McGraw-Hill Construction estimated that 2 percent – or $7.4 billion – of the residential construction market contained green building elements, such as energy efficient windows. According to this new research, 0.3 percent of all existing United States homes are truly green, constructed using several different green building design features and products, a market sized at approximately $2 billion.
“It’s interesting that people are really starting to commit to building green homes, moving away from just adding energy efficient appliances,” said Harvey M. Bernstein, McGraw-Hill Construction Vice President of Industry Analytics, Alliances and Strategic Initiatives. “Though it’s still a small number, builders are already getting it when it comes to the value of green homes, and it appears homeowners are too.”
The research also found that:
- The new green home owner is affluent and well educated, in his/her mid forties and married, and also more likely to be from the Southern or Western states. Women are also more likely to be green homeowners.
- 63 percent report lower operating and maintenance costs as the key motivation behind buying a green home. Additionally, nearly 50 percent said they are motivated by environmental concerns and their family’s health.
- More than 60 percent of those surveyed say that consumer awareness, additional costs and the limited availability of homes are obstacles to green homes gaining a bigger market share.
However, when looking at the “biggest” obstacles, green homeowners view education as the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Survey results will be published this summer in the next issue of the McGraw-Hill Construction SmartMarket Report series and available at www.builderbooks.com.
With rising utility costs dominating recent headlines, many Americans are looking for ways to trim their monthly bills by making their homes and businesses more energy-efficient. One way to accomplish this is to implement "green building" principles into the construction of homes and businesses.
Quite simply, green building is an effort to develop more energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally-responsible buildings. Strategies used by today's green building practitioners look at every phase of the construction and operation of buildings, whether they are focused on indoor air quality or waste reduction.
By incorporating various green building principles into a structure, the average home or business can save as much as 50 percent on their utility costs according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The benefits don't end there though, as green building also benefits society at large by reducing the environmental impact of a structure.
For example, according to the Department of Energy, if just one in 10 households incorporated energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, we could prevent more than 17 billion pounds of air pollution - which is equivalent to removing more than 250,000 cars from the road. In addition, green buildings require less maintenance and repair, reduce short- and long-term costs, promote health among occupants and improve worker satisfaction.
Concrete wall systems weighed heavily into strategies developed at a recent forum on overcoming barriers to the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in production homebuilding. PCA’s Jim Niehoff represented concrete interests at “The Future of U.S. Housing,” part of the Department of Energy’s Building America program.
Research, development, and outreach performed by the competitive industry teams are key elements of the Building America program to reduce energy consumption in residential buildings. Activities focus on increasing the performance of new and existing homes by developing advanced energy systems that can be implemented on a production basis, while meeting consumer and building performance requirements.
The long-term goal is to achieve a 70% whole house energy reduction in the next 15 to 20 years. Concrete and foam wall systems were one of a number of products mentioned as having the ability to significantly increase the energy-efficiency and overall quality of new home construction.
More about DOE’s Building America
Contact Jim Niehoff
For more helpful information please visit the following sites:
Deparment of US Energy
Energy Star
Environmental Protection Agency
National Home Builders Assoc.
Florida Home Builders Assoc.
Building Industry Assoc.
National Hurricane Center
Florida Green Building
Energy Effeciency and Renewable Energy
Greensource
Greentrends
|
