Building green and building sustainable homes have become buzzwords, and nowhere do they seem to come up more than in the Whistler Real Estate market.
This month the municipality held an open house to gather feedback on its Whistler Green program for detached dwellings. The guidelines grew out of the green building standards the developers of the Nita Lake Lodge came up with in 2004. “At that time there wasn’t really any good green building program for detached dwelling residential construction,” said Guy Patterson, housing planner for the Resort Municipality of Whistler. “We still think that for a number of reasons Whistler Green is a good standard for local builders and homeowners to turn to if they do want to build a green home in Whistler. But it is certainly one of an emerging group of different standards, which all try and get to the same thing.” The guidelines give a list of actions to take which each have a point value which builders can use to guide development.
At the heart of nearly all the guidelines is a quest to cut down energy use, control water use, consider recycled materials in building, and just generally think smart for the environment when building or even renovating.
“People want more energy efficient houses, they want better indoor air quality and now they are willing to pay for it,” said Bob Deeks, owner of RDC Fine Homes, which hopes to have four registered green homes completed by the end of the year in Whistler. “I think when you talk about a green building or a sustainable building it is equated back to (what does it give the homeowner?) And it essentially comes down to a greater level of comfort, healthier home, and lower (energy) costs”.
Deeks recognizes that home building is getting more and more expensive but he believes that many green features can be built into a home at minimal cost. Homeowners also have to tweak the way they think about their budgets. “There is more creative ways of financing these things because if your energy costs are significantly reduced then you can increase your mortgage payments,” said Deeks, who is also past president of the Canadian Home Builders Association’s Sea to Sky chapter (CHBA). “So your net costs are the same moving forward but you have a better house.” “People should recognize that it is achievable, that the cost is not as great as they think it is, and they won’t get it if they don’t ask for it.”
If you were to meet the Whistler Green building standards you would be doing a little bit better than what the province is going to tell you to do. Whistler builders and home owners that get on board with Whistler Green standards now will be ahead of the game by the time the Province hands down their changes.
