A green home is good for your health, your wallet and for our planet

This is one good campaign that will secure our future! I am talking about the ‘go green’ campaign that has now caught the attention of almost everyone, from politicians, media to the common folk. So what are green homes? Or what makes a home green? And why do you need it? Apart from this obvious set of questions, there are a lot more things that you will need to know both at the micro and macro levels. Things like the affordability factor, whether making the home green will affect the comfort levels and whether these green homes will revolutionize the realty market or not.

What is a green home?

A green home, when compared to a non green home is more energy efficient, utilizes less or optimum level of water and other natural resources, has green areas intended for plentiful sunlight and cross ventilation, all of which could save you money and ensure your better health. Further, a green home is eco friendly in the sense it puts less waste into the environment.

We are living at times when there is an immense pressure on the world’s natural resources including water, and air. There is also an urgent need to cut down on pollutants that continue to play havoc on the water, food and air quality available. The only viable solution is to go green. And the onus is on not only the policy makers and green home builders but equally on individuals and green homes is the most practical and feasible solution.

Initial costs are high but you can easily recover

You can either build a green home or make it green later. Many people hesitate to buy a green home because of the initial costs in buying is high. Typically, the cost of construction is at least 15-20 percent higher compared to the standard construction costs and according to rough estimates the price is also 15 percent higher than any other development. But this initial high costs shouldn’t be a deterrent for you to go green. Today, some green home developers share the extra costs with the buyers. And even if you are not lucky enough to find such a one, the truth is you could still easily recover this high initial cost within two or three years.

Green home is good to your wallet and health

When you get a green home you can save almost 40 to 50 percent of the operating costs and that way recover the higher initial costs in two or three years. This is how: A green home can save you a lot on maintenance, power, water through water recycling and water harvesting, and more importantly provide a more healthy life.

Consider this: The heating, lighting, and cooling appliances used in green homes use the best of natural resources to save energy, money and remain eco friendly. A green home utilizes alternative energy sources like sun, wind, geothermal and biomass energy. Some green home apartments offer insulated roofs and walls that considerably lessen the heat ingress in some cases up to 60 percent, thereby resulting in significant lower air-conditioning loads. Major energy saving techniques is installed and adopted in a green home. For instance, the Vatika Group in one of its green homes projects has installed a variable frequency drive (VFD) system which automatically adjusts motor speed of the cooling systems according to the ambient temperature.

Another important feature is that the construction excellence that goes in building a green home ensures a longer lifespan of the building, reduce the repair and maintenance costs and subsequently increase the investment value. And if you want to resell your apartment, you could get a higher resale value for most people are aware that a green home is synonymous with international standards in residential spaces.

More awareness and favorable policy decisions holds the key!

Green campaigns are here to stay but there is a desperate need to shift focus to create more awareness on popularizing green homes, particularly in India where the green homes market is still in nascent stages. Right from policy decisions favoring the green home development schemes such as fewer formalities and approval methods, discounts for costs involved, popularizing the grading system for green homes from the ministries involved, doling out tax rebates for developers of green homes projects, all of which can go a long way in encouraging the builders to take up green homes projects and sell them.

For individual owners of green homes greater awareness is required on two counts: the actual costs involved in building new green homes and altering existing standard homes into green, and how energy saving techniques could actually help recover the initial costs. There could also be government backed initiatives like linking energy saved through green homes to bank loans. For instance, a recent report in The Wall Street Journal said that there are programs in the U.S that see potential energy-bill savings into qualifying income which could be enable people get more money or bigger loans.

Overall, owning a green home can be good for your health, your wallet and our environment. Think green today and the world will be greener tomorrow. Do your bit for this very valid cause and your kids will thank you in the years to come.