Renew America Success Stories

Good Cents Environmental Home

Description

The Good Cents Environmental Home program, created by Southern Development, provides home builders a system by which to rank the "environmental-friendliness" of their homes.  By examining more than 500 building practices across six categories, the scoring system awards points for features such as the incorporation of low-impact building materials, the installation of energy-efficient appliances and the incorporation of solar panels to determine a builder's score.  Homes that score high enough receive the Good Cents Environmental Home certification, which builders can use as a valuable tool for attracting environmentally-aware prospective homeowners.

The Good Cents program can help reduce dramatically the environmental costs associated with home building.  Today's average new home can consume enough lumber to level an acre of timberland, produce of up to four tons of waste during construction and waste enormous amounts of water and energy over their lifetimes.  Good Cents Environmental Homes dramatically reduce the impact of home building and home ownership, resulting in benefits such as reduced air and water pollution, decreased demand for landfill space, lowered energy consumption and conservation of building materials.

An added benefit of the program is that, while Good Cents homes do not cost any more than comparable traditional homes, they generally incorporate higher quality building materials as a result of meeting strict environmental standards. Because the homes incorporate energy saving and conservation measures, they feature lower energy costs than typical homes. The dual benefit of lowering operating costs and the ability, in some cases, to borrow more money through an Energy Efficient Mortgage means more lower-income families have the opportunity to buy their own homes.

Finally, because Good Cents homes incorporate so many efficiency and conservation measures, they help to increase environmental awareness among owners.  To encourage homeowners to reduce their environmental impact, new home buyers are given an educational guide to help them lead more resource-efficient lifestyles.

Program Highlights

To participate in the program, builders agree to make changes in their traditional building methods that will conserve energy, water and raw material resources.  The program is not prescriptive, so builders are free to choose among any number of resource-efficient options to achieve certification.  A scoring system is used to evaluate each home's impact on the environment, using as its basis the Environmental Protection Agency's analysis regional environmental risk. Builders improve their score by selecting options that reduce these environmental risks.  Examples of sound environmental practices in each of the six areas are:

Energy Efficiency

• Use of high-grade ceiling insulation.
• HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) designed so that areas of the home may be closed off when not in use.
• Water heater installed in the heated/cooled portion of the home.
• Kitchen, bathroom and laundry areas vent heat and humidity to the outside.
• Refrigerator exceeds the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act standards by at least 10%.

• Water-based paints are used on the home's exterior.
• Window trims and interior doors are made from a material other than wood.
• Cabinets are made from recycled products.

• More than 50% of the original lot is preserved in its natural state.
• Organic pesticides and herbicides are applied to the landscape.
• More than 30% of leftover construction materials are reused or recycled.
• Unused paints, sealers and other materials are collected and disposed of at an authorized disposal site.
• Alternative paving materials -- such as rubber or stone -- are used.

• More than 50% of the plants in the landscape require little watering.
• All shower heads are low flow (2.5 gallon-per-minute maximum).
• All toilets are all ultra low-flow (1.5 gallons per flush).
• Water from showers, baths and bathroom sinks is captured and reused.
• Rainwater is captured and used.

• Solar panels, wind power and photovoltaics are included in the home design.
• Deciduous trees are located on the western and southwestern sides of the home.
• Daylighting is employed to reduce dependence on artificial lighting.

• A recharging station for an electric vehicle is provided in the garage or car port.
• Recycling bins are built into the home.
• Bus and transit stops are incorporated into the neighborhood.
• Pathways throughout the neighborhood encourage bicycling and walking.
• Recreational park areas are located within the development.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Good Cents Environmental Home program is a project of Southern Development, in partnership with local developers, utilities, builders and equipment suppliers.

Budget: Please contact the program directly for the latest budget information.

Community Served: Potential new home owners, particularly low-income families, that have the opportunity to purchase an environmentally-sound home.

Measures of Success:

More than 600,000 Good Cents Environmental Homes have been built in areas served by 280 utilities.

To date, Good Cents homes have saved more than 600 megawatts of electric power -- enough power to serve 30,000 residences.

Success stories designed by Mark W. Nowak

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