Smart home and green innovations can simplify homeowners' lives and protect their biggest investment. As more information and products become available, more homeowners are considering retrofitting their homes with smart and green innovations, the Long Island Press reports.
“I think people are looking at things more holistically now when they undergo home construction,” says Daniel Busi, managing director of the U.S. Green Building Council Long Island Chapter (USGBC-LI). “Due to more information being available to the general public about possible rebates/incentives for innovative systems, people are looking to retrofit with a variety of options.”
Approaches include sustainable construction that maximizes materials, efficient building that uses only the necessary amount of resources, resilient construction that prepares for upcoming natural disasters, and renewable energy production that reduces fossil-fuel dependence.
“These options often cost a bit more upfront, but all lead to significant savings,” Busi says. “People have started to really see the ROI [Return on investment] for geothermal, benefits of innovative and alternative wastewater treatment septic systems, value of solar arrays [panels], etc.”
While many companies are embracing green innovations in particular, some are guilty of a practice called "green washing," in which companies make overstated claims about the environmental friendliness of certain materials or products. Real green products are both sustainable and renewable.
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