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Philosophy of Green Building
The Green Building movement is finally getting its priorities in order.
The growing consensus of experts believe we should focus on three main points in this order:
1. Energy
2. Water
3. Materials
Energy is society's most important issue. Using less represents saving the environment and having more money.
Money saved on energy bills represents the best opportunity to reduce our environmental damage.
Homes and buildings are responsible for 40-60% of our nation's pollution.
Monthly, energy-use accounts for nearly all of this environmental foot-print.
Money saved on energy bills reduces dirty energy's hidden costs that include: Acid Rain, Mountain Top Removal, Coal Ash Spills, and Global Warming.
The wisest thing we can do is dramatically reduce our MONTHLY energy costs.
Existing homes and remodels should include as much energy conservation as possible.
However, the most affordable path to dramatically reduced monthly, energy-usage is through new construction.
50% - 100% less energy consumption is possible and affordable compared to existing or remodeled homes.
Energy reductions are easily measured with the HERS index, which comes with Energy Star and other certified homes.
Green builders typically offer homes that are 15% more efficient than what building codes require. This only offers a tiny reduction in energy bills and resulting environmental footprints.
With the right choices, 50% lower monthly energy use can be just as affordable up-front as these wasteful, typical Energy Star homes.
Reduce Energy Use Affordably Have Healthier Indoor Air Be more Comfortable
High performance building envelopes are the missing element in dramatically reducing energy costs. The new materials and methods that make this possible are just as affordable as conventional ones. A great building envelope matched with the right design, details, and connections offers the most affordable and effective opportunity to reduce energy costs by 50-100%. These homes will be more comfortable, more resistant to mold and have the healthiest indoor air quality.
When one builds or rebuilds, they are responsible for that building's lifetime of energy bills, resulting environmental costs and the health effects of the indoor air on the inhabitants.
This website can help one discover the most important things to consider on the path of affordable, energy independence and healthy indoor air.
Certifications and Ratings 
LEED for Homes 
Certifications and ratings are great because third parties verify that buildings are built appropriately. There are several good choices in the Asheville area, so we attempt to simplify them here, with an energy-use bias.
Energy Star/HERS rating (the HERS Index is extremely important)
This certification and rating system is presently the most popular and important. Almost all certifications start with Energy Star and then add to, or alter, the picture from there. The HERS rating is powerful in its true predictions of home energy costs and resulting environmental costs.
The HERS rating is an accurate representation of how close a home will be to Net-Zero-Energy use: the ultimate goal in fiscal and socially sustainable living. The scale is 0 to 100 with a code-built house being 100 and the Net-Zero-Energy home being zero. Modeling software combined with diagnostic results from the completed home make this possible.
After purchase price, the HERS rating is the single most important number in a home. It assigns a number to a home's monthly, energy-use which is the biggest source of most people's environmental foot-print and energy costs.
The closer to zero, the lesser one's energy and environmental costs.
Net-Zero-Homes reduce the environmental impacts of the entire neighborhood.
DO NOT be content with the Energy Star label. Energy Star and other certifications have a HERS rating/score. This number along with the blower door test results are the most revealing numbers of a home's energy costs and resulting level of harm on our environment.
Most green builders score around 85 which is actually kind of pathetic. This represents a 15% reduction in energy use and is barely noticable in energy costs and environmental footprints. A rating of 50 can be just as affordable to achieve and would put us in line with a german, code-built home. In other words, most of the Energy Star homes built in Asheville, would'nt even pass code in Germany because they would waste too much energy.
Other Certifications use Energy Star as a starting point and then use other criteria to build a more holistic picture of a green building. This is a great thing, but we take issue with how they tend to strip importance and relevance away from our nation's most important challenge of energy-use.
For example, take two otherwise identical homes. One home has a HERS rating of 70. The other house wastes more energy with a rating of 80, but because it used more recycled materials and has a rain barrel, it gets a higher level of certification. This is fundamentally wrong because the home with the score of 70 will have a much lower environmental foot print. This example would be the exception, but is designed to highlight the importance of the HERS rating and the greatest weakness in most other certifications.
Dramatically reducing Monthly, Energy Bills is one of the more responsible things a person can do. Fiscally and Socially.
NC HealthyBuilt Home
It is quite affordable to upgrade to an HBH certification. It is a simplified points system that goes beyond Energy Star to include seven different criteria: site, water, building envelope, comfort systems, indoor air quality, materials, and lighting/appliances/renewables. This program successfully educates builders and buyers in all areas of the green building movement. This is the most popular and recognized certification in Asheville and Western North Carolina.
LEED for homes
Like NC Healthy Built Homes, Energy Star and third-party inspections are required. LEED is considerably more expensive than other options. This is mainly due to its complex points system. It takes someone who is educated in its many variables, options, and formulas to certify a home. If one is trying to keep things simple and affordable there are better choices available. The main advantage to LEED is its national recognition.
Passive House
www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PHIUSHome.html
If there is a certification capable of making a true impact in the World, it is the passive house standard. Although it is not easy to achieve Passive House certification, the requirements and guidelines are very straightforward. This is the most affordable, simple, and effective certification ever devised.
Certifications that use point systems involve thousands of moving variables, some of which have little effect on a home's environmental foot-print. Because Passive House focuses on the main source of a home's environmental foot-print, its homes are the greenest by far.
By doing away with "optional points" and designing to a "target energy budget", Passive House standard homes use 90% less energy. This means 90% less energy costs and a 90% lower environmental foot-print. These reductions are affordable because they do not require extra mechanical equipment. The main challenge is assembling a team familiar with the materials, methods and connections to achieve Passive House certification.
It should be noted that Passive House was created in a different climate than Asheville's. Germany has a heating dominated climate with fewer days of sunshine in the winter. We have a climate where cooling with de-humidification is almost as important as heating. We need different mechanical equipment to accomplish this. We do not need as much insulation as Northern climates and we can rely on passive solar heating more.
Passive House is working on adjusting thier system to accomodate different climates. The HERS rating, at this point, is adjusted for our climate and can be used in a "target energy budget" manner by designing a home to score a certain HERS Index rating.
The impressive thing about Passive House Standard is the ability to bring a homes energy use so low (HERS equivalent of 10 or less) without the use of Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Panels. This is possible due to a strict approach in creating the building envelope. The Building Science Corporation BSC, a team of our country's best building scientists, have been influenced by the Germans, but raise some important questions to details of Passive House requirements and recommendations. Perhaps the most important issue: When does it make sense to spend money on a PV system instead of extra insulation? Many feel that money would be better spent on a Grid-Tied PV system instead of a diminishing return of super-insulation, especially in our more mild climate. BSC and Passive House are remarkably close in thier Northern insulation recommendations except for the levels needed under slab.
"I aint changin my lifestyle"
Unfortunately, lifestyle has to enter into the conversation at some point. In the world of Passive House and Net-Zero-Homes, lifestyle can be a major influence on performance. Thanks to technology, people who dont want to alter thier lifestyle can offset thier environmental impact if they can afford it.
For most of us, re-developing our habits is an easy way to dramatically reduce our energy consumption while sacrificing little in our lifestyle.
Home Energy Monitors have made remarkable breakthroughs recently. For only 100-300 dollars one can use this device to display and monitor the exact amount of electricity being used and how much that energy is costing you in real-time. Energy reductions of 10-20% are possible by allowing the entire family to view the impacts of thier daily routines that influence energy use. A simple display of "cents per hour" have an immediate impact, offering big incentives for seemingly small choices. Concerned builders will now have a way of truly evaluating their product's performance.
Net-Zero-Energy Homes: Why they are so important
Net-zero-energy is the ultimate goal in building responsibly. Energy bills disappear as do the environmental costs of the occupants. They also dramatically reduce the environmental impact of thier entire neighborhood.
Electricity used in the home represents only 1/4 of the energy needed to create and transport it. All that wasted energy represents huge amounts of environmental costs. When homes produce enough power to offset thier use from the power plant, they are actually supplying power to thier neighboors during peak demand hours. This reduces the need to build more power plants and reduces the amount of electricity lost in transport. This also exponentially reduces the effects of mountain top removal, coal ash storage, air and water pollution and climate change.
The cost to go Net-Zero is more affordable than ever. With an efficient home the size of our Springtime Cottage (1410 sqft) one can expect to pay 9000 to 17,000 after tax credits to install the Solar PV panels and net -metering system to make it possible.
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