Did Green Home Enthusiasts Miss Purpose Of Movement?

Is Green-Building Nothing More Than A Marketing Ploy?

As someone who has always appreciated the ideology behind green-homes and green-building practices, all I could think to myself is “what in the world,” when I heard that only one of the green-home award winners picked by the U.S. Green Building Council had a Walkscore greater than 50. For those people who are not familiar with what a Walkscore is, it is a scoring system developed to determine how easy it is for someone living at a certain address to live a car light lifestyle. A Walkscore of less than 50 is considered car dependent. Where most errands or daily activities would be considered out of walking range and either driving a car or riding public transportation would be a must to complete them.

My understanding of those people who would be willing to pay the often times 20-30% higher price tag for a green-home with similar amenities, is that they are at least environmentally conscience and consider energy efficiency to be a high priority for them. With the fact that when discussing green-buildings, transportation to a building accounts for twice as much energy consumption as operating the building, how in the world could the green movement have missed having locations that provided the opportunity for a car light lifestyle as being a prerequisite to green living. In fact, I beg to ask the question can a home that requires a car to get to it really be considered green? My answer would be no, but I would like to hear what you have to say on the subject. So, please take the time to enter a comment in the box provided at the bottom of this post, even if you only comment to tell me whether or not this subject left you asking yourself “what in the world.”