Luxury Developments Sell Sustainability

Curbed reports that high-end builders across the country are increasingly using environmentally friendly features as a selling point.

A report last year from the Rocky Mountain institute found that net-zero housing costs between 6.7 and 8.1 percent more than standard construction, but as costs for this upgraded technology decreases, net-zero homes are close to making more financial sense over the lifetime of the home in many parts of the country. The Net-Zero Energy Coalition predicts that by 2020, California alone could have more than 100,000 net-zero energy homes, based on the average annual new home construction in the state and its new solar power mandate for new construction.

“You’re not going to compromise luxury, but you also want to do the right thing,” Gobuty says. “This is an evolution, what homebuilding will be. We have a responsibility. We’re the generation that messed up the planet, and now you have the same generation trying to correct it, without any compromise.”

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