Salt Lake City Utah is jumping on board with the current trend in the U.S. towards green / environmentally friendly products and services. Green consumers are everywhere and products that cater to them cover everything from cars to food. The green consumer is now a major demographic within most market segments, including the real estate market.
So what exactly are U.S. home builders doing to meet the demand of this new kind of consumer? It varies. Some builders are providing solutions that conserve energy and save water, while others are offering more extensive solutions that include the generation of energy from reusable resources and building materials from reclaimed materials. To illustrate this, lets take a look at the Salt Lake Real Estate market and a couple of their green housing developments.
Daybreak Utah, will be Utah’s largest ever new home development. When complete the development will incorporate 14,000 housing units, 1,000+ acres of open space, and a 85 acre lake. Even a development of this magnitude can be environmentally friendly. Green features include:
- All homes are fully energy star compliant, with high efficiency appliances, furnaces and windows.
- Storm water is captured before entering the drains and is used to charge the local aquifer.
- Secondary water is used for the lake and to irrigate the green spaces.
- In order to conserve water, green spaces are made up of local plants and grass is kept to a minimum.
- Homes with lots greater than 5,000 square feet are to have their irrigation systems connected to a local weather station.
- Strict guidelines for what type of plants and trees you can plant in your garden and limiting grass to no more than 60% of the total area.
- More than 50% of all building waste is recycled.
Radi8 Condos. Located just to the south of downtown Salt Lake City this new condo complex features many environmentally friendly features including:
- Solar panels providing the energy for heating and lighting in common spaces.
- High efficiency heating and cooling system utilizing a buried ground loop heat pump.
- Tankless hot water heaters.
- Building materials and paints made from low or no volatile organic compounds.
- 75% of construction waste to be recycled.
- Planted green rooftop to reduce urban heat island effect.
- Smart glass with heat mirror technology.
Green consumers are here to stay and if builders want their business, they will need to listen to requirements and build more environmentally friendly homes.
Keith Munsell 
