Utilizing green building practices to build homes has multiple direct environmental and economic benefits to consumers and to society as a whole. Some of these benefits include:

• Increasing demand for recycled-content building products creates markets for the feedstock collected in municipal recycling programs.
• Reducing and recycling construction wastes directly benefit local jurisdictions working to meet the diversion requirements of AB939.
• Recycling construction waste is often less expensive than disposal.
• Making homes more energy efficient, California residents can realize actual monthly utility savings.
• Including on-site electricity generation, via photovoltaic cells or other methods, reduces the state’s dependence on out-of-state power generation, provides electricity back to the grid during the day, saves consumers money and reduces air pollution.
• Using low-flow water fixtures and reducing the amount of landscape can reduce water demand and, in areas with meters, will save consumers by lowering monthly bills.

Cities that embrace green building can reduce the impacts on their infrastructure, including roads, water treatment and stormwater runoff.

Reducing water consumption also saves electricity used to pump water to consumers.

Increasing the use of infill land and/or encouraging redevelopment in underutilized sites reduces the consumption of farmland and eases transportation burdens since these sites are generally located in developed areas near jobs and services.

Source: California Integrated Waste Management Board