If you aren't caught up in the subprime fiasco and if you own a home, you're probably a little hedged in with this soft housing market (no pun intended). As a result, you may have decided to wait a bit to sell that home or to look for another residence so that you can maximize profits and reduce interest rates. According to BusinessWeek, you may only have about two years to twiddle your thumbs, as the fallout from delinquencies on payments and actual foreclosures could peak at the end of 2008.

But, a soft housing market isn't the only problem that U.S. homeowners face. The big home, or "McMansion," presents a new problem for those who cannot afford a larger home, who don't need more than 1,500 square feet of living space, and for those who are concerned about the environment. In a recent report [PDF], George Kats stated that U.S. buildings alone are responsible for more CO2 emissions than those of any other entire country in the world except China. According to AlterNet, greenhouse emissions caused by the standard American house account for 30 to 40 times the weight of the carbon that's socked away in its wood frame over a 50-year lifetime. By "standard," they mean approximately 2,500 square feet.

But if you have a larger home, you can assuage your guilt with the fact that many neighborhood homeowner associations across the country mandate a minimum size - often 2,500 to 3,000 square feet - for new houses. Unfortunately, poorly insulated homes of 1500 square feet actually use less energy than well-insulated homes of 3000 square feet. And, larger homes proportionally use more lumber and other materials and they lose efficiency from longer runs for ducts and pipes.

Very few solutions exist for the proliferation of larger homes in America. While it has been suggested that larger homes may make way in the future for nuclear families or for non-related groups of individuals, those ideas have also met some resistance in light of illegal immigration concerns. NIMBY, or Not In My Backyard, also plays a role in whether a person wants to live next door to a burgeoning commune.

Facing environmental concerns is a serious business, as many investors will attest to with their green investments. Here are a few sites that focus on green building and realty, and each one of these sites can provide the investor with a hundred or more new investment possibilities:

• Equity Green: A real estate tax advisor conducts an exploration into everything green as it relates to real estate.
  
  
• Green Buildings NYC: Stephen Del Percio, a New York attorney and a LEED accredited professional, attempts to stay on top of the latest news and developments in green building. His site also links to the Green Buildings sites in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Miami.
  
  
• Inhabitat: Future-forward design and a daily source for innovations in sustainable architecture and green design for the home.
  
  
• Jetson Green: Preston D. Koerner focuses on advance trends in green building with an eye to the confluence of modernism and environmentalism.
  
  
• Living Green: Aaron Doyle, who believes that "everyone should be able to experience the pride and privilege of homeownership," shares her thoughts on energy, environmental, and health issues that affect real estate today.
  
  
• Offbeat Homes: An environmentally conscious Jennifer Chait brings fascinating concepts of homes and buildings to the Web.
  
  
• Treehugger: This blog attempts to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. Although more of a lifestyle-type blog, the focus is on living environments.

Of course, there are hundreds more environmental realty sites out there, but it's up to you to discover them (just follow links included in any article brought to you by the folks above, for instance, or look for "green realty" in a search engine). The investment possibilities are just one angle to possible portfolio expansion for a long-term investor, because - if you own a home - the equity in that home is an investment as well.

The sites listed above and more can offer some ideas on how you can green your home to add value to its worth. But, as you consider these improvements, you also might consider your buyers when you put that home on the market. According to Shyam Kannan, director of research and development at RCLCo in Bethesda, Md., a recent home buyer preference survey revealed that only ten percent of the respondents based their home purchasing decision on energy savings and that three percent based their decision on the use of green materials in the construction.

Kannan breaks down green homebuyers into three categories:

• "Forest Greens" have little purchasing power, but buy for altruistic reasons.
  
  
• "Greenback Greens" are interested, but price sensitive and buy green versus non-green based on cost factors.
  
  
• "Healthy Greens" are highly educated, more affluent "cultural creatives" who equate energy conservation with healthy living.

If you combine the possibilities of this market as defined by Kannan above with a home that's over 3,000 square feet in size, you might have a problem when and if you decide to sell. On the other hand, I've known many a person who campaigned for non-smoking environments who also live in McMansions?

The point is that no one can predict the housing market anymore than that person can predict the stock market. But, if you are sincere about working toward a greener America, then you might consider changing your living space to a more environmentally friendly habitat. You'll benefit, as you can stop twiddling your thumbs as you wait for the housing market to loosen up, and you'll be living in a healthier space. Whether that home will increase in value with your efforts is an ongoing story.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin