Embracing Environmentally-Friendly Const.

Homeowners Continue to Embrace Environmentally-Friendly Construction

November 25, 2010 - Homeowners are still willing to pay more for a green home as long as incentives and rebates are available to help defray the extra costs.

One of the findings in a survey conducted as far back as late 2007 by Public Opinion Strategies for the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) bore that out. It indicated that among those who said they would pay more for a home with green features, fully 74 percent said they would be willing to pay no more than an additional 10 percent, highlighting the need to keep green building affordable.

Today's tax incentives and rebates for various energy efficient products and features, available from municipalities and levels of government from the local to the federal, are contributing to the continuation and growth of green building.

According to a study by the NAHB and McGraw-Hill Construction, the percentage of new homes built with eco-friendly features was forecast to rise from 2 percent in 2005 to as much as 10 percent by 2010.

One of NAHB's seven categories of Green building is indoor air quality. Residential Systems Magazines agrees, and also identifies energy efficiency as another "hallmark of the green building movement." {read rest}