What the hell is ‘green’ anyway?

You can’t escape it!  Everywhere you go retailers are trying to sell you ‘green’ options.  Some promise a better product, others a clear conscious but most promise nothing.  It may be a safe assumption that they deliver nothing as well.  ’Green’ has become the catch word for selling anything these days.  Cars, food, bags, flat screen TV’s, furniture, paint, carpet, knives, cookware, xmas lights, bulbs, landscape, etc…..are all available as ‘green’.

So what is ‘green’?  How can it describe so many things?  Will it make you live longer?  Will it make you healthier?  Can it make you happier?  Green is a secondary color on the color wheel located between primary blue and primary yellow.  That’s it!  ’Green’ is not a standard, criteria, benchmark or certification.  It really is just a color that many people have associated with any effort or perceived effort to reduce pollution and/or live healthier.  At first it was innocent enough. It is certainly easier to describe your new home as ‘green’ than it is to define the qualities of your home that may or may not make it somehow superior to most others.  Today ‘green’ as a label is being abused.

Most of you have likely already heard the term ‘green washing’.  This term is used to describe a product or service that has somehow abused someone’s interpretation of the label ‘green’.  Absurd isn’t it?   An absurd and generic word like ‘green’ has now earned it’s own absurd retort.  I am still uncertain how there can be ‘green washing’ at all since the word ‘green’ describes no specific standard for which to live up to.

Personally I try to avoid the word ‘green’ when referring to my homes. Instead, I refer to the specific standards that my homes meet/exceed. In my business these standards include: USGBC LEED, FGBC, Energy Star, FPL BuildSmart, Florida Yards and Neighborhoods, NAHB Green, WaterStar Gold, and National Wildlife Federation.  While meeting any of these standards on a home may make you believe that the home is in fact  ’green’, there is a world of difference between these standards.  For instance, a home that meets all of these standards could be considered ‘green’.  Also, a different home that meets only the FPL BuildSmart standard could be referred to as ‘green’.  Does that mean that they are the same?  Absolutely not!  The point is that it is important to determine the standards by which a product or service might be measured rather than simply settling with the ‘green’ label.

There are a lot of local businesses who go way out of their way to make you believe that they are dedicated to your salvation and that of the earth.  Some go so far as to use the word ‘green’ in their company name!  Do not assume that they are in fact ‘green’.  Ask them if the follow a set of standards with regional credentials.  Ask them if ALL of the their projects or products meet those standards.  There are many builders locally who claim to build ‘green buildings’ even in their names and marketing and yet most of their projects do not meet any standards!  In my opinion, this is the bait and switch using our favorite word….. ‘green’.

Ask your purveyor or service provider what their intentions are regarding their choice to be ‘green’.  Is it to save the Earth?  Reduce electric and water bills?  Create a healthier person?  A healthier environment?  Or is it just marketing pressure in a down economy.  I have been labeled by others as a ‘green’ builder because I only build homes that meet the standards associated with our favorite word.  I have no designs on saving the Earth one home at a time.  I build the way I build because I believe in building my customers’ the best homes that their money can buy.  I believe that they deserve to live in the healthiest homes that technology allows.  I believe that if I can find value in water and energy conservation for my customers, then they deserve my effort to create that value.  I believe that my customers deserve low waste service fees, low home owner’s insurance costs, low maintenance costs, and low landscape maintenance fees.  For those reasons, I build durable homes that have native landscapes and I manage my waste during construction.  I won’t recommend anything ‘green’ to my customers unless it is free or it creates value in some way. These points qualify my homes for the toughest standards generally associated with the ‘green’ label.

‘Green’ is NOT a bad thing!  It is misunderstood because of the reasons that I have stated.  I don’t suggest that you run away from everyone and everything that uses the word ‘green’ as a hook.  I propose the opposite!  Stand and ask the tough questions.  Ask them why.  Ask them how.  Ask them how often and by what measure.  Ask them to explain why you should give your green in exchange for their ‘green’!  If you see red (as in blushing) turn and run!

I hope this helps your understanding of the word ‘green’!