The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently announced a cash incentive program to increase the development and certification of green buildings within the state. This goes along with continued strong interest in sustainable home building within the economic downturn.

Dubbed the Green Residential Building Program, it offers incentives to owners of particular new or renovated residential or residential mixed-use buildings that include in their design methods to lower energy costs, reduce waste and water use, and improve indoor air quality.

The cash incentives are payed out to owners once they prove their building will use at least 30 percent less energy compared to conventionally built homes, and that their building follows these principles:

- Green design principles in terms of building siting and window positioning to take advantage of solar gain, minimize heat loss, and reduce energy use;

- Green construction techniques such as the use of processes to keep materials clean and dry to reduce mold growth;

- Green materials such as those manufactured with recycled-content, reclaimed content, or rapidly-renewable and locally produced content.

Several early adopters have met these new requirements, including an affordable-housing development and student housing at a local community college. The incentives begin at $5,125 for a single-family home and go as high as $13,375 for a building consisting of 11 units. For more information, check out nyserda.gov.

I for one am glad to see this incentive take action, and hope other states learn from New York's example. We need bigger incentives for developers to dive into green building, as many still shy away assuming an added cost to their projects. 

Let us know in the comments if you live within the state of New York, or know of  a program within your state and/or community!