Dive Brief:

• Marketing an energy-efficient home is more about a homeowner’s concept of doing the right thing than it is about saving money or energy, according to a report in BUILDER magazine.

• The report advises homebuilders to tap a house hunter’s “expectations and values” and to create specific messages for consumers who have diverse reasons for going green.

• The authors suggest that builders speak with optimism about sustainability rather than equating it with sacrificing comfort; explain how a homeowner can start living a more sustainable lifestyle—by buying a green home; and build green homes that incorporate products, features, technology, and designs that appeal to consumers.

Dive Insight:

Consumers often are willing to pay more for homes and products from a builder who is committed to protecting the environment, a Nielsen poll shows. So builders who are hoping to tap the market for green homes—which will double by 2016, McGraw Hill Construction estimates—are well-advised to make that commitment, and to make the case to energy-and environmentally conscious house hunters that they’re buying from a builder who cares about the same things their customers do.