It's becoming increasingly popular to invest in sustainable products for the home. But it’s also popular to live in a home that was actually built to be green—or eco-friendly. In a green home, the focus is on creating ways to use environmentally friendly products for building and environmentally friendly ways of heating, cooling, lighting and generally powering the home. This includes systems for water conservation, solar power, insulating the home extremely well, using energy-efficient light bulbs, and so on.
While most who invest in a green home are doing so because they care about the imprint they leave on the planet, there are other encouraging reasons one might wish to live this way—and one of them is to save money over the long run. Because going green isn’t just environmentally responsible, it’s also financially appealing as it lowers utility expenses over time.
But that’s not where the money saving ends. Some insurance companies are also offering discounts to homeowners who decide to live in green homes. Average green home insurance discounts range between 5 and 10 percent off the annual premium. While in itself this discount will generally not justify the cost of investing in an energy efficient, green home, the combination of a discount on home insurance along with some of the reduced risks of insurable incidents and the overall energy savings could combine to create a substantial cost savings over the years.
Green homes are in the relatively early stages of development and there aren’t a lot on the market. Some insurers are offering special riders that allow policyholders who do not currently live in a green home to rebuild their property into a green home after an insurable incident. This expense would not be covered by a normal policy, as home insurance is meant to make you whole rather than give you an upgrade, but with the special rider one could end up with an environmentally friendly new home with overall energy cost savings that pay for the added cost of the rider.
Green homes are often better built than traditional homes. They carry bells and whistles that result in long-term cost savings and they can withstand damage better than many older homes. While a reduced insurance premium may not be a sufficient reason to invest in an eco-friendly home, all the benefits combined may be. If you have questions about how your choice of home affects your insurance and how you might get discounts on Houston home insurance, give us a call at (713) 349-0400.