In order to truly follow the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra of recycling, one must think about remodeling a home rather than building new. Rebuilding, reusing, and improving existing infrastructures are one of the best ways to promote sustainabiliy.

One often hears adults say, “they don’t build things like they used to”. When it comes to housing and sustainability, that saying shouldn’t be the case. Homes and buildings should be built to last hundreds of years. While it is important to be sure that new construction follows green guidelines remodeling gives a home a second chance at sustainability and to prolong the life of the building.

Another plus for remodeling is that it makes existing structures more energy efficient it can improve indoor air quality and lower operating costs. Green remodeling also makes more business sense. More and more clients are asking for green homes and more and more pressure is being put on the remodeling industry to go green.

Green remodeling not only creates healthier homes, it creates a healthy environment for the construction workers and puts less volatile chemicals into the air and soil.

Green remodeling requires a lot of pre-planning, and each remodeling project is different in the amount of “greenness” that can be brought to the table. Nearly every home can be improved by upgrading windows to energy efficient models, improving the HVAC system, adding more insulation, and upgrading hot water heaters and appliances. The addition of earth friendly flooring options and the minimal use of carpeting are the basic changes that can be made to a home.

There is no doubt that going
green can be more expensive. Higher cost options such as solar heating, recycled countertop materials, eco friendly insulation, and other innovative sources of energy may prove to be too expensive for the homeowner to consider. The homeowner must be educated to the fact that often a high initial cost can be offset by long term cost savings.

Having to give up traditional finishes such as oak and hickory cabinets in favor of less esthetically pleasing sustainable products may also prove to be difficult since those alternative choices are more expensive.

These factors must be determined before remodeling is started. The homeowner must decide what the best green remodeling choices they have, and to realize which ones will make their home more comfortable, easier to run and energy efficient.

As Dana Bres a research engineer for the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing" so aptly stated “Green remodeling is just like the salad bar. You can take as much as you want or as little as you want, there are multiple shades of green,".

Since any remodeling using green technology is better than none, the greening of a home can be done in stages. Good planning is necessary to insure that more green technology can be added to the project at a later date without again going through the cost of remodeling again.

As with any large expenditure, the homeowner must do their research. Check the reputation of the firm hired to do the remodeling project. Many remodelers are jumping on the band wagon and claiming to be green when in fact they are using the same products they used when they weren’t green.

Homeowners can make a huge impact on our environment by making wise choices when remodeling. With more and more green products on the market today the decision to go green is much easier.