Increasing the Market for Green Building
Expanding on our examination of current green building trends, significant methodologies, and resilience approaches as outlined in The Building Sustainably: Green & Resilient Single-Family Homes 2024 SmartMarket Brief, this article now turns attention to methods for enhancing green building within the housing sector.
According to the NAHB, the survey asked all respondents to select the top three factors that would increase their engagement with green building in the future. Half of the respondents listed increased home buyer demand for green homes in their top three reasons. The second highest at 48% was the availability of government or utility incentives in my area. Third, at 37%, was available, affordable high-quality green products.
Home builders and remodelers who have built green projects were asked if they utilized any of the six approaches provided to demonstrate their projects were green. The top method was using a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score at 39%. This was followed by website marketing at 35%, which had notable regional differences. Website marking was most used in the Northeast (60%), then the Midwest (52%) and West (43%), but it was least common in the South (20%). The other four approaches listed were: third-party certification (34%), MLS information (33%), silent salesperson signage (20%), and green appraisal form (6%).
