INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Several metro-area builders are willing to bet that Indianapolis home buyers are ready to pay more green to go green. A $920,000 eco-friendly home in Carmel's Village of West Clay is for sale. Built by Carmel-based Castalia Homes, it has more than 70 green features, such as water-saving faucets, energy-efficient appliances and recycled siding. Another Carmel builder, Lone Star Custom Homes, is using geothermal heating in a home it is building, and Aronson Custom Homes of Indianapolis is specializing in green home construction and renovations.
"A lot of people are starting to demand (green construction)," said Frank Redavide, owner of Castalia Homes. "It's slower to take root here, but across the country, it's a flurry." Amid dire news about high energy prices and climate change, more Indianapolis-area home builders are offering environmentally friendly features and several market themselves as exclusively green builders. "It is a consumer hot button, and with the costs of fuel and energy going up, I think a lot of people are seeing the importance of trying to be more efficient," said Kate Johnson, communications coordinator for the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
About 60 of the association's 1,200 members have joined Indy Green Build, the group's new green building committee. It's the local branch of the National Association of Home Builders' National Green Building Program, launched in February. One aspect of that program is a new Certified Green Professional designation. Since February, 141 people in Indiana have earned the designation by attending a two-day workshop. Despite interest in green construction, metro-area builders have a way to go to catch up. "Indiana is really behind the times" on green construction, said Michael Holcomb, president and chief executive of the Alliance for Environmental Sustainability.
The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based organization has an agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council to oversee the council's LEED certification program in the region that includes Indiana. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program holds construction projects to a rigorous standard. LEED's influence in residential building trails the commercial real estate market, which has issued certifications since 2002. There are 3.2 billion square feet of commercial space in the program -- 1,422 of the projects are certified and 10,762 are registered -- accounting for about 7 percent of the total square footage in the commercial construction market, said Ashley Katz, communications coordinator for the Green Building Council.
The alliance launched its LEED for Homes program in December after a one-year pilot program. As of May 1, a total of 585 homes nationwide had received LEED certification, and 10,150 homes were registered for the program. Only one of the LEED-certified homes is in Indiana, and only a few local projects are registered, Holcomb said. But that doesn't mean those are the only green homes in the state. Many builders have opted to pursue certification by home builders' guidelines instead, and many have incorporated green features without pursuing a designation.
According to the home builders' association , about 97,000 homes nationwide have been certified by voluntary, builder-supported green building programs since the mid-1990s. The weak residential real estate market may be a boon for green builders. "The (green) homes become more saleable and sell in a quicker period of time, which translates to extra dollars in a seller's pocket," said John Teter, a vice president with F.C. Tucker. Eco-friendly features typically add up to 3 percent to a home's overall cost, but homeowners can recoup those extra expenses through energy savings in just a few years, builders say.
The 6,000-square-f
Source: IndyStar.com