Chicago real estate, living and neighborhood perspective

Green with Envy (Phase I)

trees nature ducksMany homeowner and builders are planning and developing new green design projects in their developments and existing homes.  Although there are many positive factors that can be gained, certain aspects can be significantly costlier than their conventional counterparts so thorough planning and budget analysis should be planned carefully.

For many new homes, an integrated design team is created to plan and ensure goals are met.  These teams usually compromise of a developer, architect, contractor, landscape architect, structural engineer, mechanical engineer, interior designer, lighting designer, plumber, maintenance engineer and real estate brokers.  Brokers have become more active in many design teams, to help interpret market needs, lifestyles and trends.

The design team should focus on several factors such as size, community impact and relationship, climate, sun, lighting, water, material selection, connection to nature and aesthetics.  Appealing aesthetics in green design are in fact a sustainable achievement; the materials that will be used will require certain energy consumption to create (embodied energy), and the longer its useful life is, less energy will be required in the future to produce new materials for a new home / rehabbed home.  Salvaging a current home and its current materials could be greener than planning an entirely new development.  I have heard of construction crews that recycle construction materials from sites.

A home cannot be certified until it is completed, thus many buildings will become “commissioned”.  Commission is the process that verifies documents and compliance at each phase.  A third party generally conducts verification tests to ensure that building meets certain standards for green certification.

 commissioning a green building design

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Sherwin L. Sucaldito, REALTOR®
@properties
Member of The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing
Member of the Real Estate Buyer’s Agency Council, ABR
Certified Residential Property Manager, CRPM

Creative Commons LicenseGreen with Envy (Phase I)” by Sherwin Sucaldito is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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