This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 8, 2011 - When Tom and Catherine Wermert first saw their future home at 3140 Pennsylvania Ave. on the south side of St. Louis, they were impressed. The floor plan was just what they were looking for.
"We said this is how we live. We cook. We entertain," said Catherine, 50, gesturing proudly at the comfortable living area and the well-lighted, ultra-modern kitchen. "It's all open space. We love it."
Their house has the distinction of being the first home in the state certified by LEED, a nationally recognized green rating system. The yard includes water-conscious xeriscaping (landscaping that reduces the need for watering) with native Missouri plants. Stylish floors are made from fast-growing, renewable bamboo. The walls are painted with a special paint that doesn't spoil air quality by giving off volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The stairs are made from recycled soda bottles.
And the Wermerts don't notice any of it.
"No matter how green it is, if it's not livable, it doesn't mean anything to anybody," said Tom, 56, who said functionality and cost were their biggest concerns when they purchased the home. He had never heard of LEED when the pair was house shopping.
Catherine was aware of the environmentally conscious certification program but said it played little role in their decision. The couple, who moved in in December, said they expect lower utility bills before winter is over.
"It wasn't a major priority on our must-have list but when we looked at the property, it made sense for us in a lot of different ways," Catherine said.
Leed-ing the Way
Normally thought of as a green standard for commercial building, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) benchmark has a lesser-known companion program for residential construction. Launched in early 2008 after a multi-year pilot program, LEED for Homes is like its cousin an initiative of the U.S. Green Building Council; it has certified nearly 10,000 units of either single- or multi-family housing, most of them in the last year.
That number continues to grow. The building council said more than 22,000 such projects are in the queue awaiting certification. Nate Kredich, vice president of residential market development for the organization, said that would boost the program's market share from about 1 percent to approximately 4 percent.
"We've seen strong interest across the country," he said. "The areas where the market didn't go down quite as far when the housing bubble started to burst are holding up fairly well, both for us and others."
Only 64 homes have been certified by the building council in Missouri, but 56 of them, including the Wermert's cozy south side residence, lie within the city limits of St. Louis. Four others are in St. Louis County and one is in Jefferson County. By contrast, Kansas City, Mo., lists only one certified project.
The major reason for the concentration in this area boils down to three words: Habitat for Humanity.
"Actually, right now, we're the largest LEED Platinum builder in the U.S. for single-family detached homes," said Kyle Hunsberger, director of construction for the organization's St. Louis office.
Habitat has built 51 LEED single-family units in the past three years, nearly all of them Platinum, the highest rank in a four-level benchmark that also includes Certified, Silver and Gold. Seventeen more Habitat homes in the St. Louis area are in the queue awaiting certification.
"For us, it would be a little shortsighted not to build in some of the energy-efficient features," said Hunsberger. "Looking at the folks we serve who are on limited incomes as energy costs soar, creating stable utility bills for them is looking long-term."
Builders like stable bills as well. LEED features, as well as the certification process, do cost extra money. Exactly how much more is a matter for debate. Hunsberger said the investment for Habitat is fairly minimal. He estimates LEED adds about 5 percent to the cost of a standard home.
He said some of the organization's costs are offset by partnerships with providers of energy-efficient products. Plus, there's an advantage to Habitat's houses -- size. LEED applies a home-sizing ratio that makes Platinum certification easier to achieve for smaller structures.
"In essence, they don't want McMansions," Hunsberger said. "They don't want 10,000-square-foot single family homes that may have two people living in them to reach LEED Platinum because it's kind of anti what the movement is."
The Payoff
Hunsberger has theories as to why more people don't take the leap. One culprit may be the Midwest's traditionally low utility bills, which make payback on upfront costs for insulation, weather barriers and air sealant a longer process.
There's also a psychological reason.
"Some upgrades aren't very sexy, and you can't see them," he said. "It's hard for people to (spend money on) those things as opposed to granite counter tops and other features that are in your face every day."
"It's just a mind shift for people," he added.
Richard Reilly, director of operations for local homebuilder Trumpet, hopes that shift is getting easier. Trumpet is putting together a development in Wood River, Ill. Each of the three houses built so far are gold-level certified by the National Association of Home Builders as green and one has been submitted for LEED Silver certification as well.
That home has well-sealed ducts, natural drought-resistant plantings, Energy Star appliances and a roof that catches rainwater for irrigation. Paints, caulks and sealants were designed to avoid leaking VOCs into the air.
The geothermal HVAC system and the high-efficiency hot water heater, which captures heat removed from the air conditioning to warm water, work in tandem to save energy.
"Half the year, the hot water is free," he said. "The other half it's really cheap."
Reilly said that cash-conscious buyers worry over the price tag of a home, and that's been a stumbling block for LEED. But he remains upbeat about the future.
"The residential sector is building a database of performance with green homes," he said. "There will be some point of saturation, some tipping point that makes it a real 'go to' thing. It's just not quite there."
Even with new construction, not every green home is a LEED home. Some owners consider adding sustainability features without adding the cost of certification, which requires verification by a green rater and approval by the USGBC.
"It is quite common for clients to want to build to LEED or some other green standard and skip the third-party stuff," he said.
Reilly said a LEED home can run about 5 percent above standard though costs could be higher. Home owners who don't plan on staying in a house for more than a few years might find the upfront figures unappealing.
Still, Reilly believes there can be a payback on resale just as good as those granite countertops Hunsberger spoke about.
"I don't have any proof of it but my gut reaction is that with the right buyer lined up, these green features that have utility bills that are so dramatically reduced from comparable properties in the neighborhood would be akin to having a brand new remodeled kitchen," he said.
David Baugher is a freelance writer in St. Louis.