Ten more green building trends for 2011

Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit green building resource and research organization that has certified more than I 1-000 sustainable homes, offers its yearly list of top ten green building trends:

1. Affordable green. New business models and technologies, as well as the mainstreaming of high performance materials, are bringing high-performance, healthy homes within reach of all homeowners.

2. Energy conparison websites. Homeowners will increasingly tum to sites such as Earth Aid (earthaid.net) to track home energy usage and earn rewards forenergy savings from local vendors.

3. Outcone-based energy codes. Owners would follow the most effective retrofit strategy for their building and its tenants, as long as it achieved a pre-negotiated performance target annually.

4. Comunity purchasing po,rer. Neighborhoods interested in renewable energy will band together to obtain better pricing on materials such as solar panels and on installation costs.

5. "Grid-ware" appliances. New, energysmart appliances will have more sophisticated energymanagement capabilities and timers, allowing homeowners to monitor and change energy usage by remote command.

5. Accessory dwelling units. Homeowners can "right-size" without moving by adding or subtracting small independent units, which can be used for offices, studios, or in-law space.

7. Rethinking residential beating and cooling. Advances in applied building science have made furnace-less, duct-less homes a reality. For example, a "Passive Houseo' has such thick insulation that heating is provided by the everyday activities of its occupants.

8. Use of residential gray water. With water shortages looming in many areas, recycling of gray water-any household wastewater except toilet water-is gaining traction. Benefits include reduced water use, reduced strain on septic and storm water systems, and groundwater replenishment.

9. Snall comercial certification. Newer programs lower the costs of certification for smaller (under 50,000 sq. ft.) commercial projects. Two examples are Earthcraft Light Commercial (www.earthcrafthouse.com) and Earth Advantage Commercial (www.earthadvantage.org).

10. Life Cycle analysis energy codes. Continued analysis of building materials-from raw material extraction through manufacture, usage, disposal, and decomposition-will help determine what products are more sustainable and what combination of products can produce the most environmentally friendly results.

By Steve Bertasso