Letter from the Editor: What Green Really Means
March 1, 2008
Welcome to The Robb Report Collection’s second issue on green living. Our first, in November 2006, was our initial foray into the world of eco-friendly luxury, and much has developed since then—it seems that healthy living has finally caught on. With each passing day, green is becoming the norm—the term has become cliché—and that’s how we know it is really taking hold. When our last green issue came out, the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) was about to introduce LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications for environmentally responsible private homes, and now they are handing them out in full swing. When we were putting together our On the Market section in ’06, we couldn’t even find one green home up for sale to recommend to you. This time, we had many wonderful green properties to choose from. What a difference a year makes.
Architects tell us that if you build a green home, your project will likely be fast-tracked through the permit stages. (The building department likes green.) And you can bet your bottom dollar that if you decide to part with said home, your listing agent will tout its eco-friendliness more than anything else. Nontoxic building materials typically cost no more than standard ones, with photovoltaic (solar) panels being the only addition you’ll have to reach more deeply into your pockets for. But, as architect Narendra Patel (page 68) tells us, if installed using the proper technology, in six years not only are you free from paying for electricity for the rest of your life, you may even be able to send energy back to the grid and get a nice little refund for doing the right thing.
There are definitely different levels of greenness, and every little bit helps. Some people are skeptical about greenwashing—the art of calling something that has no real redeeming benefit to the environment "green" just to jump on the current bandwagon. Really, how green is it to set aside thousands of acres of land, and clear-cut a few for a golf course? In the case of the new golf communities we show this month (page 92), they have much less of an environmental impact than previous golf developments, and it’s a start in the right direction.
Hopefully this issue gets your green motor running, because next month you will be faced with a multitude of choices in big-ticket alternative-fuel vehicles to fill your garage with. Consider this our one-two punch to ensure that you have all your green bases covered.
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