Anecdotally we can confidently state that clients with a DSHH system installed and have met our recommended minimum insulation standards have little or no ongoing space heating costs.

Consumer Magazine examined the DSHH system which had been installed in the Ryan’s home in Wellington in 1997. They concluded “it really works”.

The Ryan’s have no requirement for additional space heating at all.

Chris and Leonie Beggs of North Face Construction (who built the Ryan’s house) have recently installed the DSHH system in their own new home. In an email from Chris in August of this year after his DSHH system had been commissioned for only a few weeks he stated “As I sit here writing this in my tee shirt the house is ~24 deg with only solar heating and while it will drop though the night the coldest I have seen it is 19.2, so pretty good considering we have 27m2 of unprotected glass in the room where we are taking the temperature…………..Leonie and I have started taking some stats on the house and we can confirm that we have exceeded our target of 90% saving over a standard NZ home”

The Deputy Director General of DoC, Grant Baker is currently building a new, DSHH enhanced sustainable home for himself and his wife in Aotea, Wellington. In a recent newspaper article he stated, “It’s about time all homes in New Zealand were built like this”

 “ Why are all houses not constructed this way.. this is incredible”.

              The Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban

So far the house has only had the odd wood fire, even in the coldest winter days. The wetback extra heat is pumped around the house making it all warm, not just around the fireplace.

We get visits from people, even the builders, asking us how it’s working. They walk into a warm home, something they don’t seem to have at their home. They and we can’t get over how nice it is to walk on a warm floor all winter.

               Bernard V :- Dipton Invercargill 

 GREEN HOMES SELL FASTER AND SELL FOR MORE THAN COMPARABLES by Danielle Johnson

 SEATTLE – New analysis shows “green” homes may be a bright spot in today’s real estate market. Environmentally certified homes sold for 4.8% more and stayed on the market for 24% less time than comparable homes sold last year.

In the first year since it began tracking environmentally certified homes, 19.8% of new homes in Seattle sold on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) were environmentally certified. These homes averaged 1,477 square feet, just slightly smaller than the 1,492 square foot average for all new homes sold. On a square foot basis, this means green homes sold for a 5.9% premium. Green homes certified by a third party sold for a 10.5% premium on a square foot basis.

“In today’s changing market, this is an important finding for homeowners to consider,” noted Ben Kaufman, founder of GreenWorks Realty, who conducted the analysis. He added, “Environmentally certified homes offer homeowners a way to get the most value and sell more quickly.”

Environmentally certified homes include those certified by Built Green™, Energy Star™ or LEED for Homes™. From September 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, 168 environmentally certified single-family new homes were sold in the City of Seattle out of a total of 848 new homes sold.

“Until now, the idea that people are willing to pay more for environmentally certified housing has been mostly based on anecdotes,” said Aaron Adelstein, Executive Director of Built Green. “Now we have the first hard data to back up what many of us have believed for a long time – green sells for more,” he added.

Kaufman noted, “When buying homes, it seems buyers understand the benefits of green homes – from lower energy bills to healthier indoor air.” Kaufman initiated the effort to include environmental certification checkboxes in the NWMLS. “These new figures will help appraisers, homeowners and real estate agents understand what buyers are willing to pay for an environmentally certified home,” added Kaufman.

GreenWorks Realty is the first local real estate agency to specialize in green properties and communities. Kaufman established the company in 2002 with his father to foster a healthier planet and healthier people by growing the marketplace for green building.

About Danielle Johnson

Danielle is a practicing real estate agent and certified EcoBroker. She is also co-owner of Infiniti Real Estate & Development, a women-owned, cooperatively-managed real estate, development and consulting firm based in Seattle.