You can’t turn on the TV or to a news network on the internet without seeing comments on the email fiasco with the climate change scientists. Here are several examples if you are interested:
“CLIMATE CHANGE ‘FRAUD’”
I think this is a setback for those preaching all things “green.” People are now going to start thinking a little more critically about the benefits of “green” before buying. For homebuilders building “green” building protocols this will pose an interesting dilemma. How many people want “green” and, most importantly, how many will pay for it? If the whole idea is now called into question, seems that the answer to both of those is fewer than before.
We at Classic Urban Homes have been hesitant to wholly embrace “green” in all its forms. Mainly it has been because it is way too hard for most people to grasp what “green” means (and the reason I usually put the quotes around it). “Green” incorporates so many different concepts and is too overused. What is “green” to you is not “green” to me.
Our view is that building “green” means making an economic decision on the best way to decrease a home’s overall impact on both your pocketbook and the environment. As a result, what we’ve focused on has been those things that are most tangible and easily understood by our buyers. So far that has been energy efficiency, healthy indoor air quality, and along the way, using renewable and sustainable products as economically as possible. But, mainly, it’s been the energy efficiency part that interests people the most and why all of our homes have been ENERGY STAR rated.
As this story continues to play out, the ramifications for “green” and all it stands for will be interesting to watch. Someday soon, we may get a headline like this “Australia’s Parliament defeats global warming bill” here in the United States.
In the meantime, we’re going to continue doing what we do best – build the best house we can, incorporate the latest building technology, and build families a better, more efficient, more durable house than the next guy. Our vision drives every decision we make – “Building for the way people really live”
