Sustainable Homes

During last week we tour two sustainable homes. The first one was a rehabilitated home, Heather Ferrier, 4232 Lovell Ave, Fort Worth TX 76107. It was a rehab house with the help of Ferrier building, a family building company. They bought the house one and a half years ago. The appraisal value is $182,900 as of 2011. Some of the main focuses when rehabilitating the home was recycle materials and energy efficient. The original budget was $80,000 to remodel the house and it was met. However they would have saved 20% if used non sustainable resources. There was a problem with private and public inspectors to acknowledge the use of sustainable materials and equipment. The second home was De La Peña 718 N Bailey Ave Fort Worth. This home is currently appraised at $316,500. The average utility electric cost is $65/month. It was built brand new 2 years ago. The floors are concrete, which are exposed floors. Casement windows have been installed.  It is a simple, but warm home. Kitchen, dining, and living room were all in one open space. Both homes the land value was cheap.  I think the work done in these homes was a good example for people who are interested in buying a sustainable home and are in a fixed or low income.  This is due to the fact that the land value was cheap and to remodel the house was not as expensive.  Both families looked and the cost benefit analysis and determined that it was a good return on investment. “Sustainable development is provided in the report of the Brundtland commission, stating that sustainable development is the development that satisfies the needs of the current time period without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs” This approach taken by the Ferrier’s and De La Peña’s was a great initiative towards sustainable development. My personal opinion over this homes will be for this homes to be model homes to start for sustainability. The initiatives taken by both families is a good way to start. We already have unsustainable homes that need to be sustainable and in the other side if build from scratch it is more important to do sustainable practices.

 

References.

Ciegis, R., Ramanauskiene, J., & Martinkus, B. (2009). The Concept of Sustainable Development and its Use for Sustainability Scenarios. Engineering Economics, 62(2), 28-37.