Sustainable Construction and Development

[Mitch Mallett-Hiatt]

New to bigger pockets forums. I thought I would give it a try and see what discussion will arise from a topic that is not common to this forum.

As an Architectural Engineer that lives and breathes construction, I would like to see if investors know much about sustainability as a building practice. Being an individual surrounded by case studies of building science and the benefits of sustainable construction, I would build no other way. Common construction is highly influenced by marketing from companies that are also making a profit. Sustainable materials cost very little in comparison. That said, no one is advertising for straw bale insulation and similar basic building materials. It's almost dirt cheap with very little profit margins for the seller. I can only imagine that investors would love to know more about high quality, low cost construction materials and methods.

Anyways, my only objective for this post is to start a discussion and possibly share my knowledge with others.

[Seth Borman]

Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:

I have calculated the ROI on different SEER rating when doing upgrades. The recovery time on added cost can be 15 years, which isn't far off from the useful life.

 If you want to save energy with your HVAC system the way to do it is by installing the smallest system that you can. Air seal, insulate, calculate, and then buy the system. Most systems don't deliver the efficiency that they claim because the test conditions are so different from installed conditions (SEER will be replaced with SEER2 that uses more realistic tests) and most systems are oversized. In fact, the typical AC is 12,000 BTUs or one ton larger than it should be for the space in which it is installed. Furnaces are typically even more poorly sized. I bought an 80,000 BTU furnace for a house in Los Angeles, once. That was not correct.