Green Building Discussion:

The scope of your building project has a big impact on both your budget and your opportunities for building green. It's attractiveness will be great from some but not all -even if the new cool thing to have is going to be an eco-friendly home. With features that include soy-based attic insulation, hot-water recirculation equipment and high-efficiency air-conditioning, the house that scored even in the 3oo's on the FGBC scale of 400 are very costly in today's continually slumping market. But if it's green you want, The benefits can easily out-way any cost of building green. 

It's important to set your budget and goals before sitting down with an architect or draftsmen. I have said it once- I have said it a million times "The more you know the less it cost." Clients that come into our office an say I want a 3,000 s.f. home, spend a lot more time and money then clients that have a sketch with basic room layouts and who know they needs-vs-wants.

Take the company MyGreenBuildings for example, they renovated the 1,000-square-foot rock-solid old house at 1876 Goldenrod St. to green standards and added 1,100 square feet to it. In the process, they minimized the amount of waste through recycling and created a house that rates, pending confirmation from the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC), as the second-greenest in Florida with a 303. Only a model house built by WCI Communities in Venetian Golf and River Club in Lakewood Ranch has scored higher (in the 320s).

Ellis (the home owner) paid $430,000 for the house and lot. The property is on the market at $815,000, or about $388 per square foot of air-conditioned space.

or A sixth-generation builder in the Port Charlotte-North Port area with more green and affordable houses.
Not only will the affordable houses be certified green by the Florida Green Building Council, but also they will withstand 160 mile-per-hour winds and will be Energy-Star compliant, says the builder. David Schroeders, president of Schroeders Homes, which builds some 150 houses a year, said that "going green" was more than just a reaction to what buyers are asking for.

Will it become the next "gotta have"-trend for the rich and celebrity types? or will it be a common way to protect and build smart not hard?

To me, this is just building with the newest (not the cheapest or best) technology/ ideas available and companies looking for marketing strategies.