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Georgia homeowners who use environmentally
friendly solar panels and recycled building materials on their
houses can now get insurance specially designed for
"green" homes, officials announced Tuesday.
The state insurance commissioner's office
has approved the first-ever green homeowners insurance policies in
Georgia, commissioner John Oxendine said. The program - for
customers of the California-based Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. -
guarantees that environmentally friendly homes will be rebuilt in
the same way if they're damaged or destroyed.
"We hope this will encourage and
promote people to be green in their homes," Oxendine said at
a news conference at one of Atlanta's houses with Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S.
Green Building Council.
Georgia joins 26 other states where green
insurance is available. Fireman's officials say about two dozen
Georgia homeowners have signed on so far.
Even homeowners who don't have
environmentally friendly houses can buy the green add-on from
Fireman's Fund to complement their existing insurance policy with
the company, Oxendine said. That means if a house is destroyed in
a fire or damaged by a tornado, for instance, the insurance
company will rebuild it with a green design. It also will pay the
hefty cost of hauling construction waste to recycling companies
rather than junkyards, he said.
Laura Turner Seydel, daughter of media mogul
Ted Turner, is one of the state's new green insurance customers
with her LEED-certified home in Atlanta's posh Buckhead district.
The home, called the EcoManor, has solar panels on the roof,
natural lighting in almost every room, naturally dyed furniture
and rugs, cabinets made from pressed hay, and a plumbing system
that reuses rainwater and wastewater.
"I feel like I look better, think
better and operate better," Seydel said during a tour of her
home Tuesday. "We have built a much healthier home for our
family," noting the home doesn't have the chemicals and
toxins often found in dyes, paints and construction materials.
Green building is more expensive because it
requires specially designed appliances, hard-to-find plumbing
fixtures and construction materials from within a 500-mile radius.
But experts say green homeowners save about 30 percent on utility
bills each month, which can quickly recoup the added cost of
construction.
Seydel's home is one of three LEED-certified
homes in Georgia, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, a
Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. The certification means those
homes meet a lengthy checklist of environmentally friendly
requirements.
However, scores of Georgia homes are built
with green components and energy-efficient designs, even though
they don't meet the stringent LEED certification, according to
Southface, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes green
construction.
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