Built Green Washington
http://www.builtgreenwashington.org/page.php?id=7
BUILT GREEN is an environmental building program proven to provide the homeowner with a healthier, more efficient house. BUILT GREEN homes are attractive, comfortable, durable, environmentally-friendly – and can save money to own and operate. Participating BUILT GREEN builders craft these resource-efficient homes to exceed building codes to provide homeowners with years of healthy, quality living, while protecting our precious Northwest environment.
Programs award the BUILT GREEN certificate to a building project when it meets defined green building criteria summarized on a Checklist. Projects receive one to five “Stars,” depending on the number of points they achieve. Each local program has its own Checklist, designed to reflect local issues and priorities.
BUILT GREEN is a market-driven approach to improving building practices. It relies on voluntary action by builders and offers a clear brand you can seek to find superior housing.
Green Built Advantages:
Improved Air Quality
Well designed ventilation systems and careful selection and installation of materials give you cleaner, fresher indoor air.
Today’s homes are built air tight to meet the Washington State Energy Code. As a result, your new home can feel stuffy. Yet opening the windows in winter won’t solve the problem. In fact it can make it worse. Controlled, whole-house, energy efficient ventilation means you have fresh air when and where you need it, even in cold weather, without paying an energy penalty or introducing unwanted moisture.
The American Lung Association (ALA) of Washington links a variety of mild-to-severe physical symptoms to inadequate or poor air quality. Mold, mildew, dust, and other pollutants are the culprits. A well-designed, BUILT GREEN home can be part of the solution.
Natural Landscape Design
A yard designed for natural yard care can mean having fewer toxic chemicals around your house and yard, which reduces the risk of exposure or accidental ingestion by children.
Energy Efficiency
Choices make all the difference when it comes to energy efficiency in BUILT GREEN homes. Those choices can include siting a home with solar heating and daylighting in mind, exceeding building code on insulation and air sealing, and selecting Energy Star® appliances. Lessening demand for power today makes everyone's air cleaner while reducing the forecasted demand for future capacity and its ensuing emissions and infrastructure costs.
Energy Efficiency
Different building techniques, materials, and equipment all contribute to a more efficient home that costs less to operate. The BUILT GREEN program creates homes with features that will save you money every month on your utility bills, savings that are not achieved in standard homes.
The BUILT GREEN program encourages material choices that require less work and fewer maintenance and replacement costs, such as roofing and siding with a 40- or 50-year warranty, quality flooring products, and composite or recycled plastic decking.
Landscape Protection and Design
BUILT GREEN homes aim to protect vegetation and soil during construction, and introduce healthy, natural landscaping after construction. Cultivating the right plants in the right place, maintaining only the lawn you need, and developing good quality soil by adding plenty of mulch means less watering and mowing, and fewer chemicals and plant replacements. In addition to cost savings, protecting mature trees adds value to your property, up to 20%. A single mature tree can provide nearly $300 in energy and resource value by cooling your site, reducing soil erosion, controlling pollution, and providing shelter for wildlife.
Site and Landscaping That Reduce Run-Off and Erosion
Careful construction practices, such as minimizing soil compaction, preventing erosion, and incorporating natural yard design featuring native species and drought-tolerant plants all help to protect our water systems. These practices use less water while allowing rainfall to soak into the ground, recharging groundwater. This reduces run-off that can carry pollutants and heat from pavement into nearby waterways.
Resource Efficiency Means Less Waste
We can help protect the lands from which we harvest, mine, and manufacture building and finish materials by getting the most and best use of our natural resources. To do that, BUILT GREEN builders and contractors implement construction waste management plans to reduce excess materials and to recycle whenever possible. Space for home recycling is included in the designs of BUILT GREEN homes.
Materials Selection
In addition to conserving resources through waste reduction and recycling, material choices can make a big impact. The Checklists award points for materials and design choices that use less, contain recycled-content, use fewer toxic components or manufacturing processes, are produced sustainably, and last a long time.
Energy Choices and Future Demand
Washington’s energy system is complex, drawing on hydro-power, coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and wind to generate electricity, natural gas, and propane to heat and cool homes and heat their water. Regardless of the source, each exacts ecological impacts to deliver power to our homes. With considerably more people forecasted to live in Washington in the future, the demand for power will grow along with the need for additional sources and infrastructure to deliver it. The less power Washington uses today, the less new power capacity — along with its costs and impacts — will be demanded in the future.
