Commissioner Poizner Supports “Green” Insurance
It’s common today to think about “being green” when you are making a purchase of a single product. But how can you apply “being green” to your insurance choices?
To mark Earth Day, April 22, 2009, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner suggested ways that Californians can make their homes and home insurance more “green,” and make sure that any environmentally friendly changes they make to their homes are covered under their home insurance policy.
Poizner pointed out that regular insurance policies normally cover homes—not to mention personal property—for actual cash value or replacement value. If you have an actual-cash-value policy, then damages to your home and goods are paid for the value, or original cost, of the items minus depreciation. This can result in a lack of funds to replace damaged or destroyed items in the most environmentally conscious way possible.
If you have a replacement-value policy, then your building and possession coverages pay to replace items with new items of equivalent value, up to your policy’s maximum limit. But if your home was built to certain environmentally friendly standards and your goods are generally “green,” you should check with your insurance company to make sure that you can repair or replace such damaged property to the same environmentally friendly level.
Today, you can also purchase some home insurance policies that allow you to improve upon your home’s “greenness” in the event that you suffer a loss. So through your claim, you may receive enough insurance money to purchase more energy efficient products or rebuild using sustainable resources, for example. Also, for homes that are already “going green,” Poizner urges consumers to consider new “green” homeowners insurance policies (first offered in 2008) that meet “green” standards in processes and materials for repairs/replacement, decreasing impact on the environment and increasing energy efficiency. These may result in lower utility bills, certain insurance discounts, and tax advantages, Poizner suggests.
To read the government article about “green” insurance:
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/0080-2009/release047-09.cfm
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