New Zealanders have a love affair with their houses. Saving a deposit for your first home is a common life priority. The mortgage payments and running expenses that follows consume a significant amount of household resources. However, as families evolve and grow, their living requirements also change, for example, a spare room may be needed to accommodate study or home business, or an older child or national tax system for home ownership many New Zealander acquire additional rental properties. These are often seen as an effective retirement fund and a physical symbol of wealth and comfort. Additionally, with our love of the outdoors and a mainstay of New Zealand culture being the summary vacation to the beach, mountain, lakes, or rivers, we invariably require accommodation in these often very remote areas.

Introduction
In an age of increasing climate change there is a need to consider the sustainability and environment al impacts of our housing and accommodation choices. The greening of the built environment is a result of greater public awareness, information and understanding of how the buildings we live, work and play in affect the natural environment, our bank balances and our health. But what to do we really mean when we say a product is green? It is a broad term that people are instantly drawn to but can only vaguely define. It is often linked to other words such as ‘sustainable’, ‘environmental’, ‘carbon footprint’, ‘ecological’, ‘carbon neutral’, biodegradable’, ‘energy efficient’, ‘renewable’, ‘organic’, ‘recyclable’, ‘alternative energy’, ‘non-toxic’, or ‘eco-anything’. Supermarket shelves are filled with ‘green’ or ‘eco’ product, and we may not mind paying a little more for the eco-toilet paper to ease our environmental guilt about all the plastic packaging in the rest of our shopping. The purchase of ‘eco’ supermarket products can be a relatively