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Building Green in a Black and White World--Chapter 1

The following is an exerpt from the book Building Green in a Black and White World.
Section 1; Chapter 1; Part 3; Trends Relating to Green Building (cont.)

David Ritchey Johnston
January 1, 1900
HousingZone

Part 2 of Trends Related To Green Building

Environmentally Conscious Consumer Behavior and Home Buying

The Denver HBA survey and a survey conducted by a Boulder, Colorado production builder show consumer behavior in purchasing a home. The information is insightful and relevant to green building awareness and the effectiveness of marketing-two issues that must be addressed to ensure the prosperity of green building.

Importance of Green Features to Denver Homebuyers

Survey Used

Denver HBA Built Green Consumer Awareness Survey. Survey composition: 626 recent homebuyers (1997-1998) in Denver, Colorado metro area.

The Denver Homebuilders Association's Built Green program is a new residential construction certification program. The program spent more than $600,000 in public relations and marketing over two-and-a-half years of operations. This survey was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing and the awareness level of new Built Green homebuyers.

Question: Please rank on a scale of 1 to 5, how important the following factors are to you. (Measures environmental concern)
Those who had heard of Built Green:
Area of Interest	% who chose 5 or 4
Energy efficiency	89%
Water efficiency	85%
Healthy indoor air	84.5%
Preservation of natural resources	73%
Recycled content materials	46%

This study gave builders perspective on their local marketing efforts. Green building categories related to home purchasing decisions were surveyed. Sixty-five percent of homeowners surveyed purchased homes under $200,000-30 percent of them purchased homes between $150,000 and $200,000; and the other 35 percent purchased homes under $150,000.

Of the 626 participants, in only two years, 121 (19 percent) had heard of the Built Green Program, and most of these were in their 30s. The level of environmental concern of those who had heard of Built Green is shown below. By placing a high level of importance on environmental features in a home, buyers who knew of Built Green said that they used this knowledge in their buying decisions.

This survey shows the rapid rate of market penetration of green building awareness. Buyers find the features important enough to impact their buying decision.

The Relative Value of Environmental Features to Traditional Purchase Decisions

Survey Used

"Boulder, Colorado Production Builder" Environmental Development Survey, 1997.

In a post-occupancy survey conducted by McStain Enterprises of Boulder, Colorado, a major production builder and founding member of the Built Green program, an interesting buyer profile emerged. McStain promotes green features extensively to prospective homebuyers to differentiate its homes from other builders' homes in a highly competitive environment. This survey contrasts buyers' reasons for purchasing a home in a green subdivision with the same models built several miles away that did not include the green features.

Reason For Purchase	Green Subdivision	Conventional Subdivision
Location	72%	74%
Construction Quality	47%	46%
Value/Price	47%	36%
Floor Plan	44%	46%
Size	38%	46%
Builder Reputation	44%	41%
Neighborhood	44%	38%
Environmental Package	47%	8%

The conclusion from this study is that with other variables kept equal, the environmental package was as important to the educated buyer as quality and price of the homes, second only to location in importance. As a result of this study, McStain now builds all its homes with the environmental package. The bottom line is that awareness of green building features can be a significant factor in homebuyers' purchase decisions. This study has positive implications for developers and builders who market the advantages of green building in their sales programs.

Change in Consumer Values Resulting From Green Marketing

Survey Used

The Genesis Group, Denver, Colorado

The Genesis Group study targeted new homebuyers in the Denver area. The results of this survey reveal that issues addressed by green building (energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and sustainable resource use) are important to homebuyers. With more than half to three-fourths of the general population rating green home features as very important, it is clear that green building can potentially become the mainstream approach to doing construction.

Percentage of recent home buyers who rated the given environmental feature as "important" or "very important."
Feature	Have heard	Have not heard
	of Built Green Program
Energy Efficiency	83%	72%
Water Efficiency	78%	71%
Healthy Indoor air	83%	70%
Preservation of natural resources	68%	55%