"Green building" is not a controlled term, but in general, it refers to any method of new building construction, or existing structure remodeling, which incorporates technologies designed to reduce the building's environmental impact while maintaining or improving the quality of life for residents.

The idea is that the better a building utilizes the resources available to it (like solar energy or the natural cooling properties of a tree line), and the less of a drain it is on those resources (minimizing water usage, for instance), the more stable and healthy the whole system becomes: environment, building, and even tenant.

Best of all? Thinking forward in this way no longer comes with a daunting price tag. Due to a number of factors – time-tested technology, better production methods, increased federal and state funding, better availability to suppliers and installers, increased social and business awareness of the significance of our impact on our environment – green building has become competitively priced. There are even special mortgages designed to make energy efficiency an easy priority in your search for a new home. This is not a luxury option for movie stars’ third homes in Bermuda: it is now within our reach.

If you’ve decided that you’d like to make a solid investment in your home’s future by utilizing green building techniques, you may already be familiar with some of the many options available. The following is intended as a broad introduction to what your options are, primarily as a homeowner, at varying levels of investment. Something to remember is that the return on your investment of any size in green building is best measured over years: what can seem like a prohibitive start-up cost can translate into incredible lifecycle savings.

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