Green building has had an enormous upswing over the past decade and energy efficiency is at the heart of the trend. Homebuyers are conscious of long term energy costs as part of a home’s value. Even if your home isn’t a “certified” green building you can still market its energy efficiency to potential buyers.

High performance homes and buildings use a variety of standards to qualify as energy efficient. There is the US Green Build Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program, the US EPA’s EnergySTAR program and HERS (Home Energy Rating System).

The LEED program uses some pretty strict standards for certification. Buildings certified under this program have often involved intensive strategies implemented by architects and green building professionals. The results are cutting edge green buildings. Unless you’re applying this program at the onset of building or remodeling, LEED is not likely going to apply to your home.

The US EPA’s EnergySTAR program offers homeowners many tangible ways to improve energy efficiency and relay this value to buyers. While new homes can become EnergySTAR qualified as a whole, the program also qualifies energy saving elements throughout the home including toilets, washing machines, refrigerators, windows, dishwashers and air conditioning units.

Consider you are planning to sell your home and have old, outdated appliances. In today’s market, buyers have more choices and thus the upper hand. Your home compared to a similar home for sale with newer appliances is going to have more appeal.

For instance, I recently sold a condominium that I had brought to near perfect condition. The only contingency for the buyer was the sole outdated appliance, the stove, for which they were given a credit. This is the reality of a buyer’s market. Buyer’s can ask for a bit more than they did two or three years ago.

If you’re not planning to take appliances with you and they are outdated, consider replacing them with EnergySTAR models to boost your home’s appeal to energy conscious buyers. Just be sure to do some cost-effectiveness research. Consult your realtor or ask an appraiser how these improvements will impact your home’s value and if they will payoff.

Another program than can help sellers place an energy efficiency value on their home is HERS – the Home Energy Rating System. HERS is a useful tool for any homeowner, regardless of if you’re selling or staying. If you are planning to sell, HERS can give your home an energy report card that gives buyers peace of mind.

A home energy rater will perform an inspection of your home and all energy related elements like insulation, windows and HVAC systems. Using a computer analysis, they will calculate your home’s current energy efficiency and costs. They will also estimate the costs and savings associated with recommended improvements. They will then give your home a home energy rating, a score between 1 and 100 and a related 1 to 5 stars. This rating relays the energy efficiency of your home before improvements and also the expected rating should you decide to implement recommendations.

Sellers can use this tool in several ways. If your home receives a good rating, this is valuable information to share with potential buyers and promote throughout the marketing of your home. If the current energy efficiency is decent, the HERS report can act as a bargaining tool. Should a buyer ask for certain repairs, the rating will support reasonable requests and disqualify any unreasonable demands.

Should your home receive a poor rating you’ll have the information you need to make some important financial decisions. You can choose to keep the rating private and leave inspections up to the buyer’s discrepancy. Or you can choose the most cost-effective recommendations from your HERS report and implement these before placing your home on the market. This choice gives you the opportunity to make your home competitive while only making improvements that are valuable and cost-effective to both you and the buyer.

Energy efficiency is an important factor of a home’s value and buyers today have more awareness of their expectations. When placing your home on the market for sale, consider its energy efficiency. Decide the best way you can rate your home’s performance in a way that buyers will appreciate. Only after these considerations should you place your home for sale. When you have a solid understanding and concrete numbers to relay your home’s energy efficiency, you’ll be able to market it as a valuable choice for buyers.