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Sure, everyone wants to save the environment. But how much will you pay to be green?

Mattamy Homes is trying to answer that question with a public experiment. The company's two new model homes at its Hawthorne Village development in Milton boast every environmental bell and whistle the builders could imagine -- from programmable thermostats to bamboo floors to power-generating windmills on the roofs.

The developers are inviting the public to tour the homes and rate those features: How important are they, and how much extra money are they worth?

You can enter your replies on a nifty handheld device supplied by Mattamy.

Consider that Energy Star programmable thermostat: It allows you to set the temperature at different levels depending on the season and when the house is occupied, and it's more accurate. That means it reduces air pollution associated with oil and gas furnaces, and does its own small part in reducing global warming. You might save up to 10 per cent on your electricity bill, depending on how you use it. But, of course, it costs a more than an old-fashioned thermostat.

On a scale of one to five, how important is the Energy Star thermostat to you?

And -- here's the moment of truth -- how much extra would you pay for it -- $60, $50, $40, $30, $20, or nothing?

And how important are bamboo floors to you? They look just as lovely as hardwood ones but are easier on the environment. Bamboo can be harvested in four to five years, compared with the 40- to 60-year cycle of typical hardwood trees. And you don't sacrifice durability: Bamboo is 27 per cent harder than red oak and 7 per cent harder than maple, according to the Mattamy model home display.

But you might have to sacrifice a few more dollars for bamboo. The builder wants to know: Would you be willing to pay $65 to $85 more a month, or would you choose bamboo only if it didn't cost extra?

The goal of the "Green Initiative" experiment is "to try to understand what people really want," says Mark McHone, president of Mattamy's Halton division.

"Our objective is to clearly gather data from consumers. We want to understand what they're willing to pay for."

His years in the business have given Mr. McHone some idea of what consumers want. Buyers are looking for a return on their money, and they don't necessarily want to wait 20 years to reap the benefits of energy-efficient features. Consumers will pay extra for them, he says, "as long as the payback of the investment is in a short period of time."

The associate dean of York University's faculty of environmental studies, Anders Sandberg, agrees.

"When you can show upfront that certain savings can be made, it's been shown people are prepared to pay. Other than that, I'm not so sure," Prof. Sandberg says. For most home buyers, he adds, items such as bamboo floors and power-generating windmills "are still luxury items."

Prof. Sandberg says he would be interested in seeing the results of Mattamy's research, but he believes it will take government regulation to make environmentally friendly features the norm in home building.

"If you want to see it work on a larger scale, you cannot merely appeal to the goodness of people's hearts when it comes to saving the environment," he says.

The interior designer tasked with dressing Mattamy's two model homes with ecologically friendly paint, closet racks and curtains says it's not easy being green, at least not yet.

"It was extremely difficult," says Carolyn Gardy of Gardy Interiors Ltd. "There's just not a lot of products on the market now. It's coming, but it's still pretty slim."

She believes the green housing industry is poised for a transformation similar to what has happened in the organic food business over the past few years, resulting in better selection, lower prices and more obvious labelling. But until that happens, she thinks Mattamy's two models will remain showpieces rather than blueprints for the average buyer.

"Certainly, if it was equally affordable, equally available, equally beautiful and equally functional, I don't think there would be a question that people would be willing," Ms. Gardy says. "But will they go and research and travel all around and spend more money and wait longer to get the items? Unlikely."

For more information about Mattamy's Green Initiative, and directions to its model homes in Milton, which are open to the public, visit its website at http://www.mattamygreeninitiative.com.