Maryland: We Do Crabs! We Do Football! We Do Green Homes?
Today as I drove around Maryland with my mom running day after Christmas errands we passed a development called Spencer's Crossing and my mom asked if I would like to take a look. At first I was slightly perplexed as to why I would want to look at Maryland real estate, but my mom quickly changed my mind by telling me the development was Maryland's first LEED for Homes community! The community is the first in the nation to receive LEED Gold status and Certified Green status by the GE Ecoimagination program.
While the developers make some lofty promises such as 53% reduced heating and cooling costs they back these claims up with two guarantees, which for the lawyers among us translates to an enforceable promise. The two guarantees are unique and perhaps just what the green building movement needs to catch on in the mid-atlantic. The first guarantee is a heating and cooling guarantee which calculates the amount of energy needed to heat and cool the home and then guarantees that your costs will not exceed that amount. The second guarantee a comfort guarantee which assures that the homes temperature will not vary by more than 3 degrees from the center of any conditioned room. I can tell you based on my experience that the home was very well constructed and that I was unable to feel any noticeable drafts.
However, the most impressive feature of these homes was not their excellent construction or luxury features but rather their 60% reduction in property taxes offered as a result of the Baltimore County tax credit which is guaranteed for a period of 3 years and perhaps longer if it continues to be funded. The tax credit is Codified in the Baltimore County Code 11-2-203.2.
Do you think tax credits are the way to promote green building or are performance guarantees such as those provided by the builder of this community the better way to go?
