Better Builders has been a proud member of the Built Green ™ program for years. Homes constructed with Green Building in mind are more energy efficient, use fewer toxic materials, and minimize the environmental impact during construction.
Today we’ll talk about the Built Green ™ certification program and one Better Builders project that was built to five-star standards.
The Benefits of Building Green
- Cost savings
- Healthier, more comfortable living
- Conserves natural resources
- Healthier Habitat
- Reduces your water, energy, and carbon footprints
For more details on the benefits of Building Green, visit the Built Green ™ website here.
Built Green ™ Star Levels
There are many different factors that go into making a home that meets the Built Green ™ certification standards. The most notable differences are the energy requirements.
The Built Green ™ certification checklist includes hundreds of criteria, most of which can be broken into the following four categories:
- Site & Water: amending disturbed soil, preserving native vegetation, retaining a certain percentage of the trees located on the site, etc.
- Energy: pre-wire for future PV installation, achieve a certain percentage improvement over Washington State Energy code, install energy-efficient appliances, etc.
- Materials Efficiency: reusing salvaged materials, meeting a certain minimum recycling rate, using materials made of recycled content, etc.
- Health & Indoor Air Quality: use less toxic cleaner, use only low VOC products, HVAC equipment, indoor pollutant control, etc.
Othello House: Better Builder's 5-Star Built Green Custom Home
The Othello House project was completed in 2015 with design by PRDG Architecture + Design and built by Better Builders. While the homeowners opted not to process full certification, the qualifications of a five-star Built Green ™ project were met with this build.
Some of the key requirements of the five-star project are: preserving existing native vegetation, retaining 30% of the trees on site, achieving a 30% improvement over the Washington State Energy Code, achieving a minimum recycling rate of 70% of waste by weight, and use a minimum of 10 materials with recycled content.
You can see from these photos; the Othello house landscaping is full of gorgeous greenery and foliage. The home has windows on all sides to capture as much natural light as cloudy Seattle will allow.
Meeting standards to make your home green isn’t always easy, but we believe it’s worth it in the end.
For a closer look at the Othello project, visit the project gallery.
If saving money isn’t incentive enough, you should consider our planet’s needs. Resources are finite, and the impact the built environment has on the earth is high. If you’re interested in learning more about building a home that is beautiful, functional, and environmentally friendly, contact us to get your project started!
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