The common perception is that a green building costs more than a traditionally built one. The fact is, with a clear construction budget, there is no reason you can’t build a green building for the same price as, or less than, a traditional building. In the following sections, I break down the three major types of expense in every building project, and let you know where green building fits in.
Initial Costs
The initial cost is the actual cost of the material or product — what you pay once to buy the material or product and install it in your home.
If you compare similar materials (a traditional one, and a green one), the costs often end up being the same. For example, a bamboo floor is installed exactly the same way as a traditional wood floor. The material costs are now the same, and the use of bamboo doesn’t result in the clear-cutting of a forest. So bamboo is a better environmental choice, and it doesn’t cost you any more at the outset than another type of wood floor would.
Although some green materials do cost more than their traditional counterparts, there are also many more green products whose costs are far below the standard. Advances in recycling, new materials, and better designs have allowed for a new generation of environmentally friendly products that are less costly to produce. Of course, green materials also have a very important long-term benefit of not destroying the planet’s resources.
The trouble arises when you try to compare apples to oranges. For example, if you’re comparing a building with solar panels to a traditional building without solar panels, of course the traditional building costs less. But this comparison focuses solely on the upfront cost of building and fails to take into account how the building with solar panels will immediately begin producing energy and eliminate your monthly electricity bill. The lifecycle cost of the solar building will be much less. This monthly benefit, called a return on your investment, pays for any additional upfront costs of purchasing the solar panels, in most cases within five to ten years.
Lifecycle Costs
Lifecycle costs are the costs of a product or material over the product or material’s entire life — not at the moment of purchase and installation.
Green products and systems pay for themselves at least ten times over the life of the building. This is true even if the features cost more at the outset (see the preceding section).
Homes are built to last for at least a century. In that time, the cost of heating, cooling, and maintenance will be far greater than the cost of construction. Turn your attention to these costs to discover the savings — they can be enormous.
For the items that may increase your initial costs during construction, be sure to calculate the return on investment — the period of time it takes to realize the savings for items such as solar panels or added insulation.
Maintenance Costs
Many people overlook maintenance costs, the costs associated with maintaining the house. Seen as the cost of owning a home, these maintenance costs are often high. Some homeowners are unprepared for these expenses, so they ignore problems until serious damage occurs.
Green building encourages the use of durable and unfinished materials to save on the costs and effort of maintaining your home. From the expense of painting and staining, to the effort of changing light bulbs, you can save a lot by going green.
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