Hefty price tag is a drawback for 'green' building

"Green" building is a hard sell in residential construction and housing sales.
The advantages of a properly sited, well-built home accrue over time in energy and water savings, and the costs of both are predicted to rise dramatically in the coming years.
Developers make their money, however, by turning over their product quickly. The average Tucson home buyer moves every five years and might balk at over-investing in features that pay off over time.
The trick is finding a level of green building that doesn't cost all that much, produces easily quantified savings and earns fee waivers for builders and tax credits for buyers. It works for hybrid cars, proponents say, why not for houses?
When builder John Wesley Miller received an award from the governor recently for his second "zero-carbon" home in Armory Park del Sol, one of the messages sent was that building green is a very expensive enterprise. The home cost $775,000.
"It was regrettable that those things happened in this context," said Yves Khawam, Pima County's chief building code official, who attributed much of the home's cost to its site. "The house straddled two lots in a very expensive location," he said.
Miller said he spared no expense in the home because he wanted to ensure that it generated more electricity from its solar panels than it used in its operation.
Miller is now working with the National Home Builders Association to develop standards for green residential building. Miller said the association will roll out its new code in February.
It won't produce the level of green home he is building in Armory Park del Sol, he said, but it will be a vast improvement, and "it will have teeth in the certification process."
Miller is one of a group of builders currently proposing to build 300 green homes with solar panels on city land Downtown. He said 25 percent of the homes, to be built by Habitat for Humanity and Chicanos Por La Causa, would be "affordable" by government standards.
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