What does "Green" mean to you in residential real estate.  Many sellers are now jumping on the bandwagon saying their home is Green, but what really does that mean to the buyer.  Are they just, as some have put it, "Greenwashing" their home to get a marketing advantage and sell it, or is it really a Green Home?
     The encyclopedia definition of Green Building is the "practice of increasing the efficiency with which building use resources (Energy, Water, and Materials), while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle (through better design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal). Green Buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the homes environment of human health and the natural environment by doing three things:

• Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
• Protecting occupants health
• Reducing waste, pollution, and environmental degradation"

     As you can see, Green means not only increasing the efficiency of the home's systems, but also reducing impacts on those of us that live in that home and the environment.  While the use of Solar Panel's to reduce electric bills is great, that alone in a home does not make it Green by the above definition.  To be Green, it would have to also protect the occupants health (maybe a air filtration system, increasing the air-tightness of the building, etc), and it would have to reduce some of the environmental by-products of building and operating that house (lets say using VOC free paints, using carpet that does not emit dangerous chemicals, reducing the amount of water on a daily basis, using non-evasive plans, etc.). 
    The best way to ensure a home is "Green" is to see if it is certified by the United States Green Building Council.  They have developed a national set of standards that is known as "LEED" (it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  With a LEED Certification, you will know that it has met minimum requirements based on a point system derived from a checklist (below in Attachments).   The homes must pass third party inspections and testing, after which the points are added up and the home is awarded a level of green performance.  Below are the different performance levels for LEED Certification for homes:

• Certified               45-59 points

• Silver                   60-74 points

• Gold                    75-89  points

• Platinum              90-136 points

With Green Homes expected to represent 10 percent of the new home market by 2010, you should know what makes a home a Green Home, so you do not dump your green dollars into a home that really isn't Green, but is marketed as Green to get you to buy it!