Paying to be Green

Being Green has intrinsic moral value. It is a requirement needed to sustain the basic needs of life and now we are not talking about doing this the next generation. The need to be Green is now for us too. Sustainability of basic needs hangs in the balance for us. So what is it going to take? Self-interest for many, even most, also works. Being Green pays off in a big way. This from the June Builder Magazine:

Energy-efficient homes, for example, sell faster because of their lower operating costs and higher value over time, said Mark Fischer, senior vice president of Stockton, Calif.-based Grupe Construction Co. "We think it's a financial thing right now. Most buyers are not buying these homes just to be green. They're doing it for the financial benefits."

Grupe's Carsten Crossings is a 144-unit community in which each home uses 50% less energy than a standard house through energy-efficient products and features such as a SunPower Sun Tile solar electric system; high-efficiency windows, furnaces, and air conditioning systems; tankless water heaters; and more.

Each home costs about $18,000 more, equating to about $1,391 more in annual mortgage payments. But they provide about $1,400 in annual energy savings (at current prices!). With a $2,000 tax rebate in the first year, homeowners are "cash-flow positive on day one," Fischer said. He added that studies show that the homes also increase in value by up to 20 times their annual energy savings each year.

If the homes make sense for the buyer, what about the builder? "This project outsold almost all its competitors almost two to one" in the community in which it was built, Fischer said. If the dwellings sold at the competitors' rate, it would have taken 37 additional months to sell them. Fischer estimated his company saved $11.5 million by going green because it would have cost $311,000 per month to carry the unsold homes.

But he added that the financial benefits to the consumer were more important to them than the green message."If it didn't save them money, I don't think it would have been as powerful of a sales feature," he said.

Note that energy rebates are not available in Ontario for new home construction. However this may change in the near future as energy prices continue to rise. Currently grants and rebates are for renovations and apartments.