Published on:
ENERGY STAR® rated items claimed the top three spots in a recent survey of home buyer preferences for green features. In the study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), ENERGY STAR windows were the single-most wanted green feature with 89 percent ranking it as an essential/must have or a desirable feature.
Green features were the focus of a chapter in What Home Buyers Really Want¸ NAHB’s survey of recent and prospective home buyers. Respondents used a four-tier scale to rank their preferences: essential/must have, desirable, indifferent, and do not want.
With the exception of water-conserving toilets, every one of the top ten green features deals directly with energy efficiency.
ENERGY STAR is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voluntary program launched in 1992 that helps businesses and individuals save money and protect our climate through superior energy efficiency. In 2017, ENERGY STAR and its partners reportedly helped Americans avoid $30 billion in energy costs.
The 2019 edition of What Home Buyers Really Want with 300 pages of details on the most desirable green features is available from NAHB.