Austin Energy Green Building rating or LEED???

Sorry for the delay since my last blog, but the internet here has been not so good. Whenever I catch myself about to complain about the internet and that I can’t make a Skype call, I remember that I’m in Kabul Afghanistan. Twenty years ago as a lieutenant in Desert Storm…no calls for five months. As a major in 2003 in Tikrit, Iraq…no call for first three months. Slow bandwidth or day to day interruptions just really aren’t than bad!

OK – what are we talking about today?? This has been on my mind for last several weeks and that is what are the differences and similarities between the Austin Energy Green Building checklist and the LEED checklist. I’ve gone through both quickly and here are my initial findings:

1. The AEGB checklist is simpler and more user friendly. I find the LEED for Homes categories and flowcharts just way more complicated – less user-friendly.
   
   
2. The AEGB checklist seems better tailored for living in Central Texas.  Shouldn't be any surprise here…this makes me think that shouldn’t it be intuitively obvious that green building MUST be tailored to the environment the house is going up in. Heck, it’s sunny and hot here in Texas – make sure the house accounts for that. The LEED checklist does appear to allow for local necessities.

Without sounding rash, my quick assessment is that the Austin system is more for building the house right to live in it while I get this impression that the LEED system has this…how do I say it, “I want to show my green bling” edge to it. I mean, why should I worry about a point for public awareness for advertising or having an article by my builder for a LEED awareness website?

What don’t I know yet?

• How far from Austin can a house be certified for the “1 to 5 star” rating? I’m 60 miles away, but is this Austin standard becoming the defacto Central Texas standard?
• Will the Austin Energy standard provide as much of a future marketing benefit as saying my house is “LEED certified?”
• Will getting a house LEED certified provide full life-cycle benefits when I sell? In other words, will it be cheaper to operate, quicker to sell at a higher price than an Austin Energy certified building?

I think everyone knows this, but no matter which checklist and guide – I expect this house to be more valuable in the future than other “standard build” homes. Because electricity isn’t getting any cheaper! See this article.

I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions on this topic because I sense that if LEED is the way to go, I've got much more prep to do.