The link between Green Building and affordable housing has slowly developed, despite the fact that affordable single family and multi-family housing should ideally provide low-operating costs, durability, and healthy environments for their occupants. These elements of Green Building have been perceived as too costly for affordable housing construction projects with limited budgets that may hamper design and construction options. In addition, affordable housing providers may not be aware of the opportunities that exist to cost-effectively integrate Green Building principles into their projects.

At present, significant progress has been made through federal, state, and local government programs, and by affordable-housing organizations to integrate the concepts and benefits of Green Building into housing projects. Building to higher levels of energy efficiency is the primary route to achieving Green Building and to lowering on-going operating costs. Additional elements such as non-traditional building systems, energy-efficient appliances, healthy building products, re-use of materials, and environmentally sensitive site development are also common in Green and affordable housing projects.

Several Virginia examples of successful green and affordable housing projects have been included in the SBRD (link). These include projects developed by Health-E-Community Enterprises of Virginia, Henrico Housing Coalition, Better Housing Coalition, and Habitat for Humanity. There are numerous examples from around the country that illustrate a range of initiatives that address affordability, energy and resource efficiency, and durability issues in single-family and multi-family affordable housing. (See the U.S. DOE Smart Communities Network.)

• GreenHOME -- Located in Washington, DC this non-profit group works in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and has built two in-fill Green homes. The houses incorporate energy and resource efficient design and careful construction, as well as environmentally friendly building products and landscaping. Throughout the construction process, low-impact construction techniques, recycling and reuse were top priorities. GreenHOME also participated in and drew materials from the deconstruction of homes in the metropolitan region.
• The state of New Jersey initiated a Green Homes Program with the Department of Community Affairs, NJ Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and the utility company. It provides advocacy, education and technical assistance to affordable housing developers to ensure the use of innovative, technologically advanced, environmental home construction design. The long-term goal of the project is to change the marketplace by raising the overall standard of affordable development.
• The PATH and National Association of Home Builders Research Center demonstration homes, the MADE to Last Homes, were built to evaluate durability, energy efficiency, affordability, and marketability. The four 1,800 sq. ft. detached single family homes, built in Maryland, were Energy Star® qualified.

• A home is Green when it is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an energy efficient and resource-conserving manner.
• Green homes are designed to:
  • Protect the occupant's health;
  • Reduce energy, water, and general resource usage;
  • Reduce the impact on the environment; and
  • Contribute to the national economic and energy security.

More than 76 million residential buildings currently exist in the U.S., and millions more will be built in the future. These residential buildings have been estimated to account for 20% of the nation's total annual energy usage. Consumers pay over $150 billion per year for utility and fuel bills. Some of the energy used is wasted through inefficiencies in building practices. For example, the U.S. DOE estimates that poorly sealed windows and doors waste about as much energy as we get from the Alaska Pipeline each year.

In addition, because homes use fossil fuel-based heating/cooling/lighting and hot water systems, they are one of the leading sources of pollution, including sulfur dioxide emissions, nitrous oxide emissions, and particulate emissions, that causes urban air quality problems. Buildings also produce carbon dioxide emissions, the chief pollutant blamed for climate change. The North Carolina Solar Center estimates that a typical home is responsible for 23,406 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Likewise, the average home consumes more of our resources than necessary, negatively impacts the environment, and generates a large amount of waste. Three to seven tons of waste are produced and more than one acre of forest is consumed during construction of a typical wood-framed house. In addition, construction can add to the pollution of local waterways if adequate erosion and sediment controls are not in place during construction. Construction of more buildings also adds to a community's overall percentage of non-pervious surfaces that further degrade adequate natural re-absorption and recharge of underground water supplies.

Research indicates that pollutant levels in the air inside our home may be several times higher than the air outside. Pollutants can be caused by cleaning products, building materials, and furnishings, that typically contain volatile organic compounds (VOC) that can contribute to allergic reactions or asthma. In addition, moisture problems contribute to mold growth, another potential source of health problems, along with dust and dust mites. Since people spend up to 90% of the time indoors, at home, school, or work, the impact on health and productivity from poor indoor air quality can be significant. For example, asthma, which can be triggered by a variety of indoor pollutants, afflicts about 20 million Americans, including 6.3 million children. Asthma causes 14 million school days missed each year, affecting not only the children's ability to succeed at school, but their parents' ability to be productive at their jobs.

The challenge for affordable housing organizations and developers is to transform the affordable housing marketplace, so that products and designs for renovation and new construction, will use a minimum of non-renewable energy, produce a minimum of pollution, and cost a minimum of energy dollars. Using these techniques can result in increased comfort, health, and safety of families today and in the future.

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