Homeowner's Associations Are Heading Down the Green Path

I live in a townhouse community in Miami, Florida, which means my maintenance fee pays for the management company to take care of a lot of the things that I don't want to have to worry about such as putting a new roof on my townhouse or landscaping. I see my personal management company doing things that are and are not friendly to the environment. This got me to thinking, how are other HOAs around the country handling their role in environmentally friendly ways.

See how your HOA handles each of these issues. If it's not in an eco-friendly manner consider talking with them to see how some changes can be made.

4 ways HOAs are friends of the environment

1. Going native. One way communities managed by HOAs can be friends to the environment are to plant native and indigenous plants to the region where you live. This helps to ensure that these green plants and flowers can survive and thrive in the environment provided by nature. This means less watering with sprinklers and not having to use harsh chemical fertilizers and bug repellents, etc.

2. Save water. By planting native plants in your community you are already one step ahead of saving water. Since these plants are native to the environment, they do not need to be watered with sprinklers as much as a plant that isn't native may need to be. Encourage your community to use rain-sensor sprinkler systems so they are setup to turn on when needed rather than on a set time schedule. Nothing is more of a waste of water than when sprinklers are running during a rain storm.

3. See the light with solar power. Common areas of the community need to be well-lit for safety reasons, but nobody says that solar lighting and low energy light fixtures can't be used. With the easy availability and the effectiveness of solar-powered and low energy lighting, it's a viable option for accomplishing the safety factor in an environmentally friendly way.

4. Go paperless. Websites, blogs and emails are the perfect venues for HOAs to communicate with their residents and vice versa. Have your HOA institute online billing and announcements rather than wasting paper, a stamp and the gas emissions for the post office to deliver the information.

My HOA is an offender on some of these issues, which I'm working on changing. In other instances, they do a great job in meeting the needs of its residents and the environment. How does your HOA stand up?