A new study of green building occupants finds that, “Items that are not too different from the norm or do not require drastic behavior alterations, e.g., low-VOC paints or energy-efficient appliances, were incorporated into a high percentage of projects.”
The study, Satisfaction with Certified Green Buildings, by Dovetail Partners, Inc., found that occupants are not eager to adopt new green technologies that involve labor on their part, like rain barrels and tankless water heaters. But that doesn’t mean green building occupants are lazy. “The greatest missing piece seems to be better education to homeowners, contractors, manufacturers, and building occupants,” concluded the researchers.
So the answer is not necessarily to avoid atypical technologies which require maintenance and behavioral change, but to educate owners, contractors,
manufacturers, and building occupants about their operation and advantages, particularly, the study determined, their life cycle versus first costs.
That’s why I teach green building courses, because I would hate to see new technologies go unused simply because someone in the supply chain didn’t understand their advantages, function, or potential to help us all breathe a little easier.
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