With real estate values dropping, and environmental concerns rising, Sustainability Facts for homes might help prospective home buyers make smart decisions. If only the government would bite the bullet and establish consumption guidelines for healthy human impact, similar to what it did for healthy human weight, and daily caloric intake.

Big brother aside, the most compelling component of this Attribute Dependency is how seamlessly the “Nutrition Facts” concept fits in with the upfront presentation (disclosure) of data in the buying and selling of real estate. It almost doesn’t matter if you care about environmental health, or just want to get the most bang for your home heating bill buck; you’ll be looking for the same energy efficiency information regardless. Given our obsession/familiarity with food labels, the recognizable format makes the data, dare we say it, easy to digest as well.