The Cost of Going Green

The cost associated with going green is often raised as an issue, leading building owners to consider it is not worth pursuing. In most cases, going green does not result in substantially higher costs. In other cases, installing or replacing HVAC equipment, insulation and water-efficient fixtures, for example, that are more efficient will cost more upfront but reduce energy costs throughout the life of a building.

Making an existing building more environmentally friendly does not have to be extremely costly. You can do many things to make your home or commercial property more green. You also do not have to do them all at once but instead implement the green projects that you feel would benefit you the most. Over time, each recommendation can build on the others to make a structure’s environment more healthy and sustainable.

Going green in new construction requires you to look beyond the initial costs of building and to analyze long-term savings resulting from green building practices. Often green certification requirements, such as LEED^® or the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS) can help builders see just a modest increase over conventional building costs. As the construction industry becomes more informed and experienced, these building costs for certifiable green housing will expectedly continue to decrease as the construction field becomes more informed and experienced.

Tax rebates and incentive programs available for businesses, institutions, home builders and homeowners exist today to help offset the costs of going green.

Bluegill Energy offers services that include a customized energy and cost savings plan that will have the greatest effect on a building’s energy efficiency and yield the greatest savings for the cost.

However, keep in mind that you can also go green at no cost by simply changing basic daily habits. Some of these actions include:

• Turning light switches off when not in use
• Unplugging appliances when not in use
• Setting the water heater at a lower setting

You can find more cost-effective ideas on our “Ways to GREEN Your Home” and “Energy Tips” pages.