Knowledge to the Green Meme

The most important factor in expanding the green meme is knowledge and understanding. We can think about knowledge and understanding in two categories: Individual and community knowledge. Knowing what mileage your car is getting informs your individual knowledge base. Posting MPG on the sales stickers of new cars informs provides a community knowledge base.

Generally speaking, we become more adept at making decisions with increased knowledge. When automakers started posting MPG information on new cars, we as a society started making decisions using that information. New hybrid cars provide a great deal of information on how the car is performing relative to MPG in the moment. If you pay attention to this information it tends to change the way you drive. I have had more than one large, student driven, pickup truck pull up to my bumper and honk as I coasted slowly up to a red light from a great distance because I could see how much this was impacting my MPG.

There is a great deal that can be done to raise our community and individual knowledge base of building efficiency. The current high bar are rating systems such as LEED or the city of Austin’s rating system designed specifically for their climate zone. These work on a point system. No one thing beyond code is mandated but points are awarded for various approaches to making the building green, so that a unique approach can be created for each design situation and each building is award a ranking for its overall level of efficiency. The LEED system awards colors from bronze to platinum. Austin’s system uses stars.

Short of a complete rating system there are steps that can be taken to better understand a building’s energy efficiency. One very simple thing to do if you are looking at buying an existing building is to ask to see the building’s energy consumption over the past year. As you compare buildings you will get a sense of which ones perform best.

Another step that some communities have taken is to require various tests before a building is put on the market. These tests provide the buyer with access to information about things like insulation and air leakage.

As a consumer, one of the best things that you can do is hire a green building professional t. At Stearns Design Build we provide site and building consultation. Another important professional is a certified green real estate agent. In the Brazos Valley you can find this service at Connective Realty.