Shades of Green

What makes a project "green"? Is a small, renovated loft in downtown Denver, with bamboo floors and low V.O.C. paint green? How about a 6000 square foot, net zero energy home in rural Boulder County?

These questions have come to light a lot lately. Companies are green washing their products with a fervour unlike anything I've ever seen. Flat screen TVs are coming in Bamboo packaging. We are told SUV's that get over 20MPG are a great way to combat climate change. What does Green mean anymore?

Green Building comes with trade-offs. Each person can have their own opinion on what is green to them. I see four categories of Green Building.

• Energy Efficiency Does the house use energy wisely?
  
• Resource Efficiency Are you using high recycled content or renewable, sustainable material?
  
• Indoor Air Quality Is your home going to be toxic as a result of your remodel?
  
• Durability and Functionality Ugly, dysfunctional homes end up in the landfill.
  

Each aspect of a building, every product you choose, has trade-offs between these four categories. My favorite example of this is bamboo flooring. Bamboo is a great resource. Fast-growing and durable, many species of bamboo can be harvested multiple times a year. Compare that to an Oak or other hardwood tree, that has to grow 30 to 50 years between harvests. So under the category of resource efficiency, its a great choice, but there is another side of the story. Most bamboo flooring is made in China, and shipped to North America. There is a lot of embodied energy in transporting the material. Also, the Bamboo may contain a lot of adhesives that may be high in urea formaldehyde, and a finish high in V.O.C's.

There are many new codes that seek to rate buildings for their "green-ness" the most well known and comprehensive of these is the US Green Building Council's LEED program. Here in Boulder, we have the County's Build Smart program, and the City of Boulder's Green Points Program. The county commissioners have made reducing greenhouse gas emissions a high legislative priority, and that is reflected in the code. Homes are required to meet progressively tougher HERS ratings based on the size of the house. HERS (Home Energy Rating System) is an energy efficiency system, and does not consider the toxicity of materials, nor does it consider the embodied energy in the materials installed in the home.

So what does this all mean to you and your project. Each person has their opinions, and things they value. I always used to put energy efficiency above everything else, but lately my opinions have shifted. My daughter went through a bout of Asthma, which has made me closely consider the indoor air-quality aspect of materials we choose to install. I have also come to realize the importance of good design as essential to green buildings, as building that are functional and flexible are more likely to stand the test of time.

I think the answer is simple. For each aspect of a project, each product you select, think about it's impacts on your health, the earth, and the long-term function of your home. If you consider all four points I discussed above, you will come up with the right decision. Some decisions are a no-brainer. "Do you want toxic adhesives or non-toxic adhesives?" Others require more thought "Stucco vs. composite siding?"

Building Green is about making wise, informed decisions. Each part of a modern home has many different materials that have different effects on the Earth. Carefully considering all aspects of each material will help us all build better homes.

This blog entry will serve as the first in a series examining the different choices we make as we build a modern home. Stay tuned...........