Contractors in White Plains are nearing completion on what they hope will be the third LEED-certified residential development in Westchester County.
Among commercial developers, the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design certification system has gained widespread notoriety since it was introduced 12 years ago by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The newer LEED for Homes program is quickly gaining ground, though more slowly in Westchester.
To date, there are nearly 46,000 LEED-certified commercial and institutional properties across 120 countries that comprise more than 8.8 billion square feet of space.
While the LEED residential program has only been in effect since 2008, more than 20,000 homes across the U.S. have already been certified, including 1,300 units at 285 developments in New York state.
However, construction industry experts and a leading USGBC official said delays by the home appraisal industry in adopting changes that would attribute a fair value to homes featuring “green” components have stunted the program”™s growth.
“It is not just a LEED issue, it”™s a green and an energy-efficient feature issue that has really held the industry back over the last several years,” said Nate Kredich, vice president of residential market development for the USGBC. “In commercial, buildings are valued based on the operational costs and savings. On the residential side, it doesn”™t quite work that way. So there”™s quite a bit of effort toward shaping the residential appraisal industry.”
Through the LEED system, commercial properties and homes can be rated as “certified,” “silver,” “gold,” or “platinum,” based on factors that include design and construction materials and tactics, energy-saving measures, water-efficiency practices, and even proximity to mass transit or environmentally sustainable landscaping.
When Gerry Angel, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty Inc. and a White Plains resident since 1978, decided to renovate her home on Holbrooke Road, she said it was important to her that it contain as many sustainable elements as possible.
“I believe that everyone has a responsibility toward creating sustainability,” she said. “I felt it was important when I was doing a renovation to do it green.”
The green movement, though, has been slow to gain traction in much of Westchester.
Through mid-June, the only two LEED for Homes-certified developments in the county were a platinum-rated, two-unit stacked duplex in Hastings-on-Hudson, completed two years ago, and a gold-rated, 49-unit multifamily building in Yonkers, completed in May.
The Angel home is scheduled to be completed in mid-July. The architect, Christina Griffin Architect P.C., based in Hastings-on-Hudson, also designed the 2010 LEED for Homes project there.
Michael Murphy, director of new project development for Angel”™s principal contractor, Murphy Brothers Contracting in Mamaroneck, said a home can be “energy efficient, environmentally responsible and beautifully designed,” adding that it doesn”™t need to be a matter of “function over form.”
Building green, however, comes with a cost.
Murphy said achieving LEED for Homes certification is both more costly and a more complex process than typical renovations or new construction projects.
“The average homeowner likes to think they want to be green,” he said. “If they really want to be green, it”™s going to hit them in the wallet.”
In addition, the LEED application process must begin prior to construction, so that the USGBC can assign a third-party “green rater” to verify that the requirements for certification are met over the course of construction.
Murphy said a number of affordable green elements can be incorporated into homes that can still render the home environmentally sustainable, such as spray-foam insulation and Energy Star-rated appliances.
Kredich said that more than half of the LEED-certified homes in the U.S. are affordable housing units that substitute sustainable construction practices and materials for the more costly on-site renewable energy systems, such as solar photovoltaic panels or geothermal heating systems.
“It”™s really all about priorities and making decisions based on what your needs are as a homeowner,” he said. “But we”™re seeing builders do LEED for less than $500 a home” above construction costs without green components.
State and federal incentives are also available to homeowners who build green.
Through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Green Residential Building Program, property owners can apply for incentives ranging from $5,125 for a single-family home to $13,375 for an 11-unit multifamily home meeting specific requirements. Other NYSERDA and U.S. Department of Energy initiatives are available for renovations, new homes and low- and moderate-income housing developments that incorporate various environmentally sustainable elements.
Green homes are expected to grow to account for 29 percent to 38 percent of the U.S. residential construction market by 2016, according to a McGraw Hill construction study. That green-homes market was projected to amount to $87 billion to $114 billion of construction.
The Green Building Council estimated LEED certification is being sought for 79,000 homes currently being built or renovated.
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