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Local builders are starting to go green Date published: 6/6/2008
BY CATHY JETT As energy rates rise, Fredericksburg-area home buyers are starting to focus on factors other than mortgages. They're looking at the total picture and want houses that are as energy- and water-efficient as possible--and earth-friendly to boot. Now a handful of local builders are beginning to meet that demand with certified Energy Star and EarthCraft houses. Air-tight, energy tight-fisted and built with a eye toward keeping as much material out of the waste stream as possible, they help keep electricity bills low and indoor air quality high. Both programs, as well as the United States Green Building Council's LEED for Homes, have been popular in states such as Arizona, California, Texas and Montana for some time, but Virginia has been slow to take advantage of such certifications. One likely reason, said Dan Dukes of GreenSource Builders in Stafford County, is that the Northern Virginia area is highly transient. "According to the National Association of Home Builders' statistics, people are only in a house for an average of four years, so why worry about it? Why build all these things into a home that will add to construction costs when they're not around long enough to see a return on their investment?" he said. Now, however, there's what he described as a "perfect storm" of reasons for home buyers to go green. Not only are gas and grocery prices going up, but so are utilities. Columbia Gas of Virginia just announced a rate increase of more than 18 percent, for example, and Dominion Virginia Power has asked for one starting July 1 that would increase a typical residential customer's bill by 18.3 percent if approved. There's also a growing awareness of environmental responsibility sparked by such things as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," said Duke, one of the few Energy Star House and EarthCraft House certifiers in the state. Duke also is among eight local businesses on buildgreenvirginia.org, a new Web site to help people find builders who've gone green. More will probably pop up following a Fredericksburg Area Builders Association training session featuring Sam Rashkin, national director of the Energy Star program, June 17 at the Hospitality House and Conference Center.
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