In an interview, Adomatis described one listing she saw recently on a home built in 1959. It indicated that the house had a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score of zero — signifying net zero energy use. (The HERS index measures a home’s energy efficiency and requires testing of the home’s performance by a certified HERS rater. The lower the score the better.)
Adomatis knew it was unlikely that an older home would come anywhere close to such an impressive rating, so she asked the listing agent why she was marketing the house with a zero HERS score. Her response: “I don’t know what HERS is or how they score, so I just put in zero.” Wow.
Allison A. Bailes III, founder and president of Energy Vanguard LLC, a home energy rating and consulting company based in Decatur, Ga., says “absolutely, (greenwashing) happens all the time. A lot of (builders) are doing things that are just standard” but they’re marketing them as green. He says he saw one company aggressively advertising its allegedly green homes, but most of the details didn’t amount to much. It was hype: Insulation R-values that met, but did not exceed, minimum local building code requirements; code-minimum HVAC systems; “digital thermostats,” which are commonplace; Energy Star appliances and a long list of other unremarkable features. As to Energy Star appliances, Bailes noted in a blog, “if you’ve done any shopping lately, you may have noticed that it’s hard to find one that’s NOT Energy Star certified.”
Kari Klaus, CEO and founder of Viva Green Homes in Arlington, Va., a new national listing portal exclusively for “eco-friendly” homes, says “greenwashing is a growing problem — clearly there’s a desire to jump on the train and use buzzwords” such as “green,” “sustainable” and “high efficiency,” too often with little to back up the claims. Her website (www.vivagreenhomes.com) carries free listings for certified (HERS, LEED, Energy Star, Built Green, NetZero and others) as well as non-certified homes that have some green features such as solar panels, geothermal, energy-efficient windows and doors, water conservation devices, etc.