Sustainable Home Checklist

Because Greensburg has claimed the identity as "America's Model Green Community" we are often asked by visitors and the media just how "green" the homes in town are. For a long time, we have wanted to develop a way to answer this question, among others. How do we best acknowledge all the work and money that people have invested in "greening up" their homes and businesses? Should we develop a rating system, similar to LEED or the Energy Star Qualified Homes program, and evaluate homes on a point scale? Should we give special recognition to those houses that meet a certain level of "greenness" and how do we decide what this would entail for the community? Is that even a role we want to take on? What we discovered is there is no easy way to answer these questions. What we decided is that we don't want to head down the road of rating homes.

Instead we have come up with is a checklist of easy-to-answer questions relating to home energy use, water consumption, use of "green" products, etc. that will help both us and residents gauge their level of participation in the greening of Greensburg. After we have received enough responses, we will analyze the information and create a graphic presentation on sustainable homes in the community. We will display the information at our Green Visitors Center and publish it here. We hope to answer questions such as: What percentage of the community recycles? What is the average utility bill in Greensburg and how does it compare to the rest of the state? How well are we living up to our commitment to be a "Model Green Community"?

This checklist is intended for us to obtain information from Greensburg residents only (click the link below).