When you buy green, ensure it's certified

Green Ideas

Fiona Douglas-Hamilton | For The Olympian • Published August 04, 2008

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For anyone who has been tracking the mainstream media and magazines, a day does not go by without an article appearing describing the benefits of owning a green home. It would seem that "green" has gone mainstream. But it is at this tipping point that consumers should be at their most vigilant as to what they are buying.

There are two voluntary national systems: the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system and the National Association of Home Builders' newly launched National Green Building standards, based on its earlier Model Green Home Building guidelines.

At the state level, a number of homebuilders associations, including Olympia, King/Snohomish and Pierce, adapted Colorado's Built Green program to create voluntary residential green certification systems. Built Green Washington is a cooperative of all of Washington's regional green home building programs. Go to www.builtgreenwashington.org to learn what is available in your area.

These certification systems now are recognized in Washington under the label Built Green, and it is this label that the homebuyer in Washington will need to understand.

Each homebuilders association in Washington operating under the Built Green label has developed its own checklist and point system with corresponding award levels. The similarities in all Built Green programs are that they address the same areas of environmental concern of site and water, energy efficiency, health and indoor air quality, materials efficiency, and environmentally friendly operations and maintenance. However, the checklists and the points awarded differ dramatically, as does the award level between programs.

King/Snohomish had five levels (five being the highest) but dropped levels one and two, while Pierce had only levels one through three but has added the upper levels. Olympia Master Builders' Built Green program has levels one through five, but what should be of concern is that it is possible in programs that maintain the low threshold of level one for a home simply to be code-built, plus as little as five more points out of a potential 800-plus points. How is this possible? Well, there still are items on project checklists that are code items that are given points.

So how does the consumer safeguard from green washing? Ask the real-estate agent or the builder selling the home to provide you with a copy of the checklist from which that home was certified. The Built Green logo means you should be getting a home that provides you with greater energy efficiency and reduced pollution, provides your family with healthier indoor air quality, reduces water use, preserves natural resources, and is more durable and less costly to maintain.

The homebuilders associations that were early adopters of voluntary green-building standards have proved their leadership, but until there is rigid third-party certification and uniformity of standards, then perhaps individual builders need to be kept honest by full disclosure of why their homes deserve that certification. It still is buyer beware.

Fiona Douglas-Hamilton, acting regional co-chairwoman of the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, can be reached at fiona.cochair.nwebg@fairpoint.net.