The Many Shades of Green sealing, which I think is good. In the end, it’s about protecting the consumer at the end of the day. But it’s always an uphill battle to convince people to spend more money. When the results are positive, it makes more sense,” he continues. Zitelli notes that the code is beginning to significantly increase the level of energy performance in homes across the board which drives up programs such as Energy Star and NAHB Green Building Standards. “My average home is 20% more efficient than five years ago. We used to do a lot of homes that had a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score in the 80s; now the average is in the 60s. That has been an interesting shift in the market,” he observes. Zitelli says that as large neighborhoods are pushing the envelope on sustainability, the number of homes being certified under various green programs has increased dramatically and that such green building is now less of an outlier and is more of a common occurrence. He admits that there’s still a challenge in monetizing sustainable homes and laments the fact that builders are not necessarily getting appraised for the investment. Green building’s impact on the commercial market is striking. “Initially in Kentucky, the folks who were adopting green building practices were governments, universities and select building owner/users. The owner could realize all the intangible benefits a green building could provide-energy and water savings and productivity benefits. But very recently it is coming through the real estate market to traditional office buildings. I have yet to hear a credible argument for waste,” says Clifford Ashburner, partner with Wyatt Tarrant and Combs. Ashburner says Louisville has positive incentives that allow for increased building intensity, allowing for the addition of an extra floor to a commercial building or, perhaps, additional parking, if certain green
building practices are established. Ashburner believes the Energy Star logo has a near 80% market penetration due to the public having seen it in the media or on appliances or electronic fixtures, but he doesn’t think most people are aware of it as a building energy performance indicator. “There are people who think if they pack their home with Energy Star appliances that the home will be an Energy Star home. In reality, most of a home’s energy comes front heating and air. The systems in a home have to work together. The relationship of a building to the site and to its purpose must be considered. Within the building, it has to be thought of as an entire system, not a bunch of separate units,” he says. Energy efficiency and green building naturally go together in many people’s minds, but Jerry Ostertag of Closet Factory encompasses water efficiency, indoor air quality and material use into his concept of green building. “We use products that offer recycled sustainable woods in their core, glues and adhesives that have no added urea formaldehyde, and coatings that have low or no VOCs. We also do our finishing offsite. Coatings and adhesives don’t cure in the home, which improves the inside air quality. While such odors may indicate that something is new, they are actually a reflection of offgasing,” he says. Jeff Speedy, vice president and general manager of Closets by Design, also stresses the reduction in the use of formaldehyde. “Melamine is the basis throughout the closet industry. The negative has been that adhesive used to seal the recycled particles was formaldehyde, but it is now very minimal compared to years ago. We can offer items that are completely free from formaldehyde. However, I don’t see much interest in them because the cost can be as much as two times the price of regular Melamine. Ostertag’s reference to material use refers to things such as a carbon
HERS Rating in a 2012 Homearama home. may 2013 19