How much does an average Sustainable home cost? Best answer gets 10 points!?

Question

Is it cheaper compared to a regular home? If so by how much?

Answer 1

Any home can be either made sustainable or improved to its energy usage is reduced. Things to consider are:

Insulation, several types where they work the best such as fiberglass, foam and reflective foil.

Ventilation especially crawl spaces and attics to cool in summer and can be closed off to hold heat in during winter.

Using solar water heating to heat your water with a large insulated storage tank. This can also be plumbed to the crawl space or slab in the winter to reduce heating costs.

Add solar panels or wind turbines grid connected to lower the cost of electricity and in some cases eliminate it.

Any improvements in insulation and passive power generation will lower the cost of owning and maintaining a home. I am saving right now about $200 a month with a cost so far of about $2000. More improvements are planned for the near future.

Answer 2

True 100% sustainable and off the grid homes could be produced cheaper than a regular home.  Of course, you'd probably have to sacrifice some square footage to do it.  I imagine you could create a 500 square foot home that was completely sustainable for less than the cost of a 2000 square foot home.  

Unfortunately, if you're talking about making it the same size as a normal home you'd be look at a lot more.  However, there's a good chance with rising electricity and water costs that you'd end up saving money in the long run (15+ years).

Now if your talking about living in a non-air conditioned wooden house with no electricity and a small chicken / vegetable farm - you could do that for a fraction of the price of a normal home...