Lynn Lamousin has always been eco-aware, but when she was looking for a permanent home in the Atlanta area, green wasn’t necessarily a requisite.
“I needed something that was more secure,” said the 44-year-old writer and editor, who at the time was living between Atlanta and Louisiana, where she is trying to sell her home. She decided on a one bedroom in Oakland Park, a 65-unit condominium development on Memorial Drive that also happens to be Atlanta’s first residential Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certified community.
“It’s green, which you think is hippie and open, but it is also super high-tech,” she said.
There are bamboo floors, concrete ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows that open for airflow, energy efficient appliances, low-flow faucets and recycling. As a result, the average $50 per month energy bill is the lowest Lamousin has ever had. While that is one of the much-hyped reasons to live in a green home, there is another less tangible benefit.
Call it the new green house effect, but this one has nothing to do with the climate. From empty nesters to members of generations X and Y, whether in single-family homes or condos, wherever they previously fell on the spectrum of environmental friendliness, many residents of green buildings soon find themselves wholly embracing a greener lifestyle.
Since moving into Oakland Park full time six weeks ago, Lamousin is more conscious of certain aspects of living green than ever before. “Paint is giving me a dilemma,” she said. “Do I want to find low VOC or no VOC? Will it hurt me later when I try to sell if I have to tell someone, no that’s just Valspar?” (The brand also makes EarthSense, a low volatile organic compound paint.)
The 15-year vegetarian who has always led a healthy lifestyle, is now considering getting a bike. Why? “Everyone here has a bike,” she said. “The bike rack is full.”
“Once you move in and are living in this environment, it reinforces it for you and maybe causes you to move a little more in that direction,” said Tony Teixeira, a resident and sales center manager at Tributary in Douglasville, a planned community. Teixeira’s home is one of several single-family houses in the community built by EarthCraft certified builder Paul Zachos, who also lives in the neighborhood.
When Zachos first started looking into green building, he wasn’t convinced buyers would want green homes. Saving a few dollars on an energy bill just didn’t seem like much incentive to pay up to 5 percent more for a house. Then after attending EarthCraft certification classes and selling a few houses, Zachos, 46, changed his tune. As homeowners enthusiastically reported doubling their space while reducing their energy bills, Zachos sent the rest of his crew to EarthCraft training. Zachos’ own 2,800-square-foot home has high efficiency windows, a tankless water heater and insulation that conforms to EarthCraft standards.
EarthCraft is a regional program that gives builders a framework for residential green building standards suitable for our climate and certifies that construction through a third party. Founded in 1999 by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and Southface, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable living throughout the Southeast, the organization is supported by manufacturers and service providers. There are about 4,500 EarthCraft certified single-family homes in the metro area and more than 3,000 certified multifamily homes, said program manager Tyler Jones.
LEED for Homes is a program operated by the U.S. Green Building Council, the organization that developed LEED standards in 2000, offering similar information and services on a national level, said program manager LaTaunynia Campbell.
Industry trends point toward green building standards becoming the building standard, so in the future there are likely to be a lot more metro area residents living in green homes and maybe living a greener lifestyle.
Mary Bosserman, 64, and her husband live in one of the metro area’s first LEED Platinum certified homes, called the RainShine House by architect Robert M. Cain. Bosserman said she and her husband primarily built the Decatur house so they wouldn’t have to drive as much. “We enjoy using public transportation,” she said.
But living in a green home has had an impact on their lives outside the four walls of their home, she said. Her husband recently installed solar panels in his real estate office. And although Bosserman has never been much of a gardener, she has discovered the benefits of planting native plants in the yard. This week, the Bossermans are headed to Toronto to attend Greenbuild, the annual expo of the U.S. Green Building Council.
There is really only one aspect of daily living where Bosserman isn’t convinced that green is the way to go. “I would not recommend using a high-efficiency dishwasher,” she said. “It only uses three gallons of water but it takes about two hours to wash. It just hasn’t quite arrived yet.”
