Reading about green building is easy. Actually doing it is a bit harder.

A Google search of “green building” yields a list of 114,000,000 Web sites at the top of which are GreenBuilding.com, the U.S. Green Build-ing Council (www.usgbc.org), Greenhomebuilding.com and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Building site (www.epa.gov/greenbuilding).

It’s easy to find articles about the marketability of green homes. There are countless tidbits like, “According to the Shelton Group, 86 percent of Americans will choose one home over another based on its energy efficiency.”

It’s easy to study stories about the importance of green building for the environment. There are credible sources, like the U.S. Department of Energy’s Steven Chalk, saying, “The building industry is the biggest source of carbon emissions, period. Buildings represent 39 percent of U.S. energy use, more than transportation or industrial sectors … this use is projected to increase 30 percent through 2025, and we have a significant opportunity today to drastically reduce U.S. energy consumption by rethinking how we design and build our homes.”

The stories that are more elusive, it seems, are those that address the risks and complications. The need and the demand are probably evident for most builders. Still, most seem reluctant to implement green building practices due to concerns about added costs, complications to construction cycles and lack of knowledge about how to do it, explains Brett Sailors, vice president of sales for Standard Renewable Energy, which runs NewPoint Energy. NewPoint Energy aims to address those very concerns.

Green Building Consultant
Basically, NewPoint Energy is a contractor that homeowners or homebuilders can hire to audit a home’s energy consumption, make suggestions for improving efficiency and also install the systems. Sailors describes NewPoint’s role with its builder partners as “a consultancy.” “We look at their plans and what they are currently using in terms of thermostat, HVAC and insulation,” says Sailors. “We have found the best way for average customers to save money is to understand where their energy is being used.”

For that reason, NewPoint favors including a whole-house control system that allows homeowners to easily monitor their energy usage. “We’ve seen people save money simply by having a good thermostat,” Sailors says. “If you know what you’re energy hogs are, you can adjust.”

Along those lines, Sailors adds that a big part of what NewPoint does is educate builders as to alternative energy-saving methods. This is a delicate phase. Builders can be turned off by alternative methods’ increased costs and a perception that systems may endanger construction cycles.

Those perceptions are accurate, concedes Sailors. The systems NewPoint is likely to suggest will probably cost more and, when installed by novices, may indeed prolong the construction cycle. Sailors addresses the scheduling concern by suggesting that builders use NewPoint’s expert installers, whom he says are so accustomed to installing energy-efficient systems that they won’t compromise the construction schedule in any way.

Production builders, Sailors says, are particularly concerned about compromising schedules. “We tell them how easily [green features] can be integrated into the production process. They don’t want to be slowed because that costs money. One of the big things we offer, especially on the solar side, is that we won’t slow them down.”

The added cost of materials and labor, however, is a tougher sell. “There are a lot of builders who see the extra cost as too much per square foot,” Sailors says. “When you build an energy-efficient home, it might be more expensive, but it’s less expensive to live in. It will cost [the homeowner] less on a monthly basis to own our $220,000 house than it will to own somebody else’s $200,000 house.”

Building green definitely does cost a lot more, says Brian Binash, president of Wilshire Homes. The Houston area production builder has partnered with NewPoint. “Right now, frankly, it’s high,” he says, referring to the cost of Wilshire’s contract with NewPoint, “just because photovoltaics aren’t mainstream.”

Both Binash and Sailors opt not to get specific about what Wilshire pays NewPoint for its services. However, Sailors offers, “Just like any other sub, we draw up a contract and they pay us — just like any other contractor they use.”

In the long run, Binash says it’s worth the high price of partnering with a green consultant like NewPoint. “There are things that add cost, but you need to think about how they add value. If you are just selling price, you’ll lose. But if you are showing savings, you win. You have to do the math for them. You simply have to sell payment.”

One of the main reasons Wilshire partnered with NewPoint was for its solar expertise. Binash agrees with Sailors that solar installation, because it’s flexible, doesn’t seem to impact construction cycles. “It’s not as invasive as one might think, in terms of when you can do it,” he says. “You can do it when it’s under construction or when it’s finished. It’s not like insulation and such. It’s not that tight of a time frame.”

Sailors agrees that Binash has a point when it comes to insulation. Installation is far more rigid with regard to construction cycles. On the other hand, Sailors also says most builders don’t fully appreciate how much impact advanced insulation techniques can have on a home’s energy efficiency. NewPoint can make a big difference, he adds, when builders bring its services in early into the building cycle.

“The best time to incorporate these technologies is at the construction phase,” Sailors says. “During retrofit you can do a fair amount of good, but the real bang for your buck is during the foundation stage. Spray foam insulations work much better at that stage. [The extra cost] will generally be recouped in less than three years. We tell people that if you budget an extra 10 percent toward energy-efficient items, you can reduce overall energy of the home by as much as 60 percent.”

Green Production Building
On the surface, Wilshire might be among the last builders one would expect to hire a green consultant. Even Sailors points out that Wilshire was already building “to high energy standards” before contracting NewPoint. He goes on to call Binash a leader in the green building movement, someone who “wants to show what can be done at an affordable price.”

Wilshire was routinely including low-e glass, tankless water heaters and other eco-friendly systems in its homes when NewPoint reviewed its processes. “A lot of the technologies that we employ, he [Binash] was already doing,” Sailors says. “It was the solar angle that really peaked his interested in us.”

NewPoint’s solar expertise was a big selling point, says Binash, but there were other factors that led to the contract as well. “They have the ability and knowledge that we don’t. They can make sure we’re set up with the right product and size it correctly and oversee the installation. It’s a good match.”

It’s safe to say that Wilshire makes green building a higher priority than most production builders. Binash cites two reasons for this emphasis: 1) “Simply, we think it’s the right thing to do” and 2) “I’m a business man.”

Not only does it make good eco sense for production builders to go green, according to Binash, but it makes good business sense, too. He says homebuyers — fueled by climbing energy costs — are becoming more aware of the value of energy-efficient home technologies. “You can’t turn on the TV or open a magazine without seeing something about green,” he says. “It’s becoming mainstream. As a result, we’ll capitalize on that.”

Binash describes a windfall of opportunity. Part of the reason Wilshire partnered with NewPoint was to prepare itself to be able to offer technologies that they expect to be in extremely high demand soon. “I recognize the potential that can come from being at the forefront of this,” he says. “When I started doing this [offering energy-saving home systems] many, many years ago, energy costs weren’t that high. We believed firmly in doing the right thing and showing that you can be green and profitable and still be a production builder — they’re not mutually exclusive.” Binash really hopes production builders get that message. The way he sees it, production builders are in position to take a huge chunk out of America’s energy-consumption problem. Production homes are the “mainstream homes,” as he puts it. “We’re really all about showing the industry and the consumers that you can have a production home, which is what Americans buy, and still be very energy efficient. We’re trying to bring that to the forefront.”

Right now, though, it’s difficult for the majority of production builders to get over the green building hump. It’s not necessarily because they’re lazy, indifferent or cheap, Binash says. In order to truly allow production builders in Texas, for instance, to go green, the state government needs to comply, he explains.

“We have a package with our utilities [in Texas] where you get some rebates for energy-efficient homes,” Binash says. “To go to the next level — and Wilshire has gone as far as possible while still being affordable — we really need to take the quantum leap. In Texas, you need some better rebates and tax incentives to bring costs down. It’s not feasible economically to be doing photovoltaics. Right now, it’s not.”

Wilshire has made its case to Texas state officials. The current system, explains Binash, makes it attainable for the super-rich to buy green homes, but not middle-market homebuyers. “We’ve brought it to the forefront in Texas with legislators, the need to have some sort of rebate for achieving a certain amount of energy efficiency in order to make more affordable, normal production homes.”

Binash is optimistic. He thinks his fellow Texas production builders will turn to building green. Consumer demand, he expects, will dictate that they must. Those builders will have to play catch-up, since Wilshire has a head start.

“Like a lot of products that come on the market, somebody has to be the one to start. I fully expect other builders will embrace what we’re doing and maybe go further,” Binash says. “I think eventually it’s going to be extremely commonplace. I think it’s going to be absolutely necessary in the long run.”

When that happens, Wilshire could lose its niche as the area’s “green production builder.” That doesn’t concern Binash. In fact, that’s his goal — for there to be an environment in which the whole country is mass-producing energy-efficient homes.

“The average Energy Star [green rating system certified] home saves about 4,500 pounds of emission per year,” Binash says. “Right now, our homes are almost triple that.” He adds that Wilshire prefers to focus on the environmental impact. “We save a little over 11,000 pounds. That’s the equivalent of removing a car from the road per year. Imagine doubling that … It becomes significant.”