Tuesday, February 15, 2011
When looking at buying a flashy new car, one of the first questions you may ask your car sales man is “How many miles per gallon does it get?” It’s an important question because driving your car costs money, and some cars cost more than others. Often, we are willing to spend more money at the initial purchase in order to save money in the long run.
Soon homes will soon be rated in a similar fashion to help you decide which ones will be the most cost effective down the road. Instead of MPG, a new EPG rating designed by one of the nation’s largest builders, KB Home, will help consumers rank homes based on their Energy guzzling tendencies.
EPG, or Energy Performance Guide, is a standard that KB Home has come up with to help estimate a home’s monthly utility payments. The lower the score, (which in fact is the estimated dollar amount you would pay for utilities) the more energy efficient the home. Green technologies have been around for years, but as the market prices are dropping, big builders are able to tap into and afford the new technologies for a fraction of the previous costs.
Is this something consumers will look at when purchasing a home? In today’s economy, it will become a more important factor for those wanting to save money in the long run. According to the Wall Street Journal’s articleabout KB Home and their EPG scale, new homes will have a score on average of around 100 (or $100 bucks a month.) Resale homes average at $130. KB Homes proudly brags that their energy efficient homes come in at a whopping low score of 82, which is 48% lower than a resale home. How much would this save you? Around $576 bucks a year, which really adds up over a lifetime in a home. More and more we are seeing homes installing solar panels, compost bins, man-made wetlands for recycling grey water, or even rainwater collection bins for irrigating lawns.
Let us know if you are looking for an eco friendly home, or even have questions about who to contact to install some of your own green resources.
