Colorado Green Real Estate

EGREEN: A Collection of Green Home Renovation Resources for Homeowners and Professionals

I like to say the greenest home is the one that is already built. A green home renovation of even a small number of the 130 million homes in the U.S. could have a significant positive impact on the environment. For anyone that is either planning or interesting in learning about green home renovation there is no substitute for professional high quality project specific information.

REGREEN is an outstanding resource for green home renovation project information. REGREEN is a program jointly sponsored by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The main purpose of the program is to provide a comprehensive set of green home renovation guidelines to support all of the major components of a green home renovation project including water use, energy efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor air quality. In this post, I’ll review the green home renovation guidelines produced by REGREEN.

REGREEN has published a 164 page booklet titled ‘Residential Remodeling Guidelines.’ The booklet, which is available in PDF form on-line, is a powerful resource for home owners, builders and design professionals interested in green home renovation. A well organized collection of green home renovation strategies are presented complete with recommendations on proven technologies and case studies of real projects. Project guidelines are presented for either whole house or individual green home renovation projects such as kitchens, bathrooms or bedrooms.

The green home renovation guidelines address ten specific green home renovation projects:

• Kitchens
• Bathrooms
• Bedrooms
• Living and Working rooms
• Finished Basements
• Home Performance
• Major Addition
• Gut Rehab
• Deep Energy Retrofit
• Outdoor Living

A ‘whole-house’ systems approach to green home renovation is emphasized even when a project only consist of one or two rooms. The reason is that maximum results are achieved when a green home renovation considers how all the systems in a home work together to reduce the overall environmental impact. From this perspective systems design and integration practices are organized to cross-reference one another for maximum benefit.

The green home renovation guidelines are not intended as a stand-alone resource. The guide includes extensive reference to additional sources of information on specific topics. Users are encouraged to explore the added resources and to formulate their own project plans to formulate their individual green home renovation techniques, strategies and materials.

An emphasis is placed on project planning in order to identify resources and formulate strategies for everything from design features and building codes to overall performance. Each of the 10 green home renovation projects is presented with a project plan template covering pre-design and implementation related issues. A case study is also presented for each of the 10 green home renovation projects.

Regardless of the size or scope your green home renovation project, the ASID/USGBC Residential Remodeling Guidelines is a must-have for homeowners planning a project or interested in learning more about green home renovation.

If you or someone you know are interested in buying a green home in Denver metro or Boulder County Colorado, give me a call. I am a certified EcoBroker and I can help you locate a green home to suit your needs.

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