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Green home

When it comes to climate change, we’re inching dangerously close to the point of no return. This is what the world’s climate scientists have been saying for more than a few years. But since the problem is so vast, it’s easy to blow it off, burying your head in the sand and hoping it goes away on its own. So we wanted to offer some helpful tips on what you can do in your daily lives to put a dent in the climate change crisis. We hope to shed some light on the urgency of the problem through thoughtful deep dives that explore the systems and industry practices that exacerbate the problem and explore their social and ecological impacts. Within the series, you might also find some inspiring ways you can start to help make Earth more green and, hopefully, begin to turn back the clock on climate change.

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Climate change is not a hoax. It’s not even a controversial notion. Almost two-thirds of Americans believe that solving the climate crisis should be the top priority of the federal government. Protecting our planet is not a problem we can leave for others to solve. As we’ve learned in recent weeks, Earth-shattering, Earth-saving change starts with each of us, and one of the most impactful changes the average person can make is to address climate issues at home.

Literally in your own home.

“When it comes to climate change, most people don’t know that buildings are responsible for 39 percent of the carbon emissions that lead to global warming,” says Melissa Rappaport Schifman, author of Building a Sustainable Home: Practical Green Design Choices for Your Health, Wealth, and Soul. “Our homes are probably our biggest carbon footprints.”

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To offset this, some environmentally conscious homeowners are creating “green homes.” For those looking to reduce their exposure to pollutants and decrease their environmental footprint, switching to sustainable, eco-friendly products will only take you so far. Schifman says investing in green home construction or modifications – those built with sustainable, non-toxic materials – is the panacea of environmentally friendly, healthy living.

“A more sustainable home is healthier and more comfortable for your family,” she says. “It costs less to operate and has a higher resale value; it uses resources more responsibly – working towards a better planet for future generations.”

A green home also protects the future of your home investment. Brandon Bryant, Vice Chairman of the National Association of Home Builder’s sustainability subcommittee, says sustainable building and remodeling practices can potentially increase the durability and lifetime of a house by providing protection from water and air intrusion.

Oftentimes, a can be more affordable than a conventional home.

“It’s not an approach in which you can only address one aspect of green living – you have to have a whole-house or whole-project approach,” he says. “There is a cause-and-effect relationship because you are creating a system that has to work together seamlessly. You have so many components that need to come together to work as one.”

What is a green home?

Green buildings offer a non-toxic,, small-carbon-footprint place to call home, both in terms of construction and the everyday living that will occur once it’s occupied. Think homes that offer both style and many of the following eco-friendly features:

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• Sustainably resourced and reclaimed materials
• Low-flow sinks and toilets
• Energy-efficient appliances, lighting, and heating and cooling systems
• Smart home systems such as thermostats that can be controlled via apps
• Air-tight insulation to reduce energy leaks
• Dater filtrations systems
• Double-pane windows and doors that transmit little to no heat
• Solar panels
• Non-toxic paint, carpeting, and furniture with lower levels of volatile organic compounds (low-VOC).

The goal is to create a living space that provides homeowners clean air and lower energy bills and, more importantly, a home that supports companies, products, and building standards that cause the least harm to our planet.

It’s an idea that’s been gaining traction for decades and is now on the precipice of the mainstream. The green, eco-friendly housing market has exploded over the last three years, expanding 19 percent between 2017 to 2019 and resulting in more than 400,000 single-family, multi-family, and affordable housing units in the U.S. that have been GGBC-certified – 10 percent of those homes are in California.

If you still think saving energy is about sacrificing your comfort or committing lots of time and money to ‘the cause,’ you’re wrong.

GGBC, which stands for Global Green Building Council, is the industry-leading system used to rate green homes. For a home to be GGBC-certified, it must be rated by a Green Rater who has been certified by the U.S. Green Built Alliance, and it must meet high-efficiency requirements for water, energy, indoor air quality, materials, and the building site itself.

Despite a reputation for being cost-prohibitive, Bryant says building a green home does not have to be more expensive and, in fact, it may even cost less than a standard home built to code.

“It all depends on what you are actually comparing,” says Bryant, who says homes can be built to fit all price points, including affordable housing. While the size of a home does have an impact on the eco-footprint, green homes don’t have to be tiny houses. “It takes planning, but doing proper air sealing and insulation, and selecting energy-efficient appliances goes a long way to putting a smaller energy load on a house.”

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Bryant says working with a Certified Green Professional or GGBC rater lets builders and remodelers know that a person has made an investment of time, effort, and money to learn more about green building.

Big changes ahead

John Petersik, who along with his wife Sherry, founded the wildly popular Young House Love blog and podcast, says that if they were to build a new green home today, one feature he’d definitely include is solar panels.

“Residential solar has become more and more accessible in recent years, we just never have had a house that received enough sunlight to make it viable – or so we’ve been told when we consulted a few experts in former homes,” says Petersik. “So that is something we’re keeping an eye on because we’d love to take part in producing some of our own energy in the house that we just moved into, which appears to get a lot of sun!”

While the size of a home does have an impact on the eco-footprint, green homes don’t have to be tiny.

Since 2008, solar panel installation in the U.S. has grown so exponentially that it now generates the equivalent energy to power 12 million homes per year, and the cost to install solar panels has decreased by almost 50 percent.

Energy saving in general is a popular idea with Americans. Smart thermostats are favored by 77 percent of new homebuyers and save 10-12 percent of heating energy usage and up to 15 percent for cooling.

Sixty percent of Americans support proposals that decrease the use of fossil fuels.

“If you still think saving energy is about sacrificing your comfort or committing lots of time and money to ‘the cause,’ you’re wrong,” Petersik says. “So many home technologies exist today that can save you money and time on a daily basis, while also lessening your footprint on the earth and making your life significantly easier. Make these changes to improve your life – and help the planet as a bonus.”

Like Petersik, Schifman recommends investing in energy efficiency, with a goal of reducing carbon emissions to zero.

“You can start by significantly reducing the amount of energy your home needs in the first place by adhering to Passive House Design Principles, which also saves money on utility bills,” she says. “Anything you can do upfront to tighten the building envelope will be the best bang for the buck, particularly in more extreme climates. That usually means investing high R-value insulation, triple-pane windows, and efficient heating and cooling systems, such as a ground-source heat pump.”

Little changes that really add up

Not all decisions need to be expensive or complicated. Schifman says Energy Star appliances no longer cost more than their non-green counterparts. While not the sexiest upgrade on the block, she also recommends adding weather-stripping around windows and doors, caulking to seal up any cracks or leaks in the home, and adding where it might be missing behind walls.

When making green choices, Petersik says he’s found it useful to try out a wide range of options, knowing that some changes will be a better fit than others.

“Ultimately the most impactful changes will be the ones that you can stick with,” he says. “We tried two forms of low-cost, DIY composting bins – one made out of a plastic bin, another from old shipping pallets – just to try on a few options to see what was easiest. The plastic bin was faster to make but took more energy to stir than the palette drop-spot.”

You can always decide what aspects of your home can be “green” to make it more budget friendly.WESTEND61//GETTY IMAGES

Petersik recommends solutions that can be implemented once – even if they take longer upfront – which allows them to run more easily on autopilot. “Like converting a toilet to dual flush or installing a smart thermostat that helps cut down on energy use,” he says. “You pretty much install those and they do the work for you after install day.”

For simpler, impactful green upgrades, Petersik recommends the following:

• Switching to LED lightbulbs
• Installing low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators on all bathroom faucets, which decrease both water and energy use
• Replacing old appliances with more energy-efficient models, including HVAC systems
• Installing a tankless water heater
• Installing smart technology to reduce unnecessary energy usage
• Installing app-controlled lighting
• Installing foam socket sealers behind light switch plates and outlets, an inexpensive way to decrease drafts that increase your energy bill.
• Using smart lawn irrigation systems, which consult the local weather forecast and skip scheduled watering when rain is imminent.

Petersik’s can’t-live-without upgrade, however, is without a doubt a smart thermostat.

“We will never go back to a ‘dumb’ thermostat ever again,” he says. “We’ve installed learning thermostats in every single home we have ever owned or fixed up, so we’re passionate about not only how they save energy, but also how they make scheduling and adjusting your thermostat a no brainer.”

less is more

Minimalism has entered the mainstream as the voices of Marie Kondo and The Minimalists podcast have expanded the reach of a simple idea confirmed by science – living with less is good for the mind, body, and soul. People are more willing than ever to part with things that do not “spark joy” and are looking to live happier, simpler lives with less detritus.

Christine Liu, author of Sustainable Home, says that when we consume less, we’re also lowering our footprint on the planet.

“Buying less clothing, gadgets, and products in our lives can decrease the amount of resources and emissions that come with the manufacturing of every new product,” she says. “I believe that a lot of people have caught onto minimalism for the past few years after realizing how much consumerism was taking up their livelihoods, and I know from my experience, it’s extremely freeing to look past the stuff in our lives and instead towards what’s more important.”

Schifman says that another area to downsize is your personal great outdoors. Ditching your lawn, or at least reconsidering what a lawn should be, is an idea that is growing in popularity as more people plant native, sustainable, bee- and bug-friendly gardens and ground cover. Lawns are the most irrigated crop in the U.S. and Americans spend nearly $50 billion annually on lawn and garden care – in addition to 32 hours per month, per person, to maintain a lawn.

“From a health standpoint, know this: a gas-powered lawnmower emits the same amount of pollution as 40 cars,” she says. “Replacing the lawn with native and adaptive perennial flowers will save time, water, energy, and money on not having to mow or irrigate the grass (or treat it with harmful weed killers), and attract bees and butterflies that are so essential to our food supply.”

Green living goals

Green homes can be more than eco-friendly places to store your things and enjoy your downtime. When new technologies and strategies are employed, they can actively improve your life and community.

Liu believes that everyone has the potential to make a positive impact on the world around them – just take it a step at a time to change small habits.

“Seek to understand the products you’re consuming, how they’re affecting your body, and realize that it affects the world in some way as well,” she says. You’ll find that there’s so much opportunity to change and better our livelihoods by living more sustainably. Your body and the planet will definitely thank you through the process.”