What Else Don’t You Know About Your Home?

With the downturn in the housing market many builders and developers are looking for creative solutions to weather the storm.  This has resulted in a number of different tactics by builders including a focus on the remodel market, building at the lowest possible cost, building green or high performance homes, or just getting out of the industry all together. 

Arguably, one of the most interesting approaches builders have used to differentiate themselves is embracing transparency, allowing the homebuyer to truly understand what they are purchasing.  Builders have begun to use green building certifications and energy performance scores as tools to achieve this more transparent message.  By bringing progressive construction features into the foreground, builders are creating a new set of buying criteria not seen before in the residential market.  The measures they are highlighting -- that improve energy efficiency, durability, and improve air quality -- should be important to consumers.  Many of America’s leading builders, such as KB Homes, are making this case to their buyers every day.

The Next Generation of Green Architects and Builders

If you’re an architect or designer who knows how to use Autodesk’s Revit building information modeling software, how long did it take you to become proficient with the program? While Revit is often thought to have a steep learning curve, teenage students at Northeast Portland Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Academy find learning the program relatively easy. In fact, ACE Architecture Instructor Marjan Rotting reports that students often design entire houses using Revit, over the course of a weekend. Meet the next generation of architects and builders in our community.

Winter Recreation Takes a Hit: Business Risks of Climate Change

Feb 12, 2011:  We left excited for a weekend in the snow and headed up to the Cooper Spur area on Mount Hood.  Arriving at the trailhead, typically under several feet of snow this time of year, we found patches of bare ground.  As we were planning to spend the night at the Tilly Jane cabin, we had a sled full of gear – expecting it would be much easier to haul our gear in a sled on the snow, than carry it on our back.  Unfortunately, the sled turned out to be more of a burden than an aid as we had to carry the sled for about half a mile where there simply wasn’t enough snow – bare ground, rocks and fallen trees.  I’ve been traveling this trail every year over the last 19 years, and while the snow isn’t always the light fluffy stuff you dream about, I’ve never had to take my skis off and walk the trail due to an absolute absence of snow.

So how exactly does my disappointing weekend snow trip illuminate business risks?  Well, right next to the trailhead is the Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, which typically offers skiing, snowboarding and tubing runs for family recreation.  The resort is closed right now, due to insufficient snow – and this is an increasingly common state of affairs.  The general trend is that over the long term, snow fall and snow pack have been falling.  As I work on climate change issues, I know exactly why this is happening, but the issues of climate change aren’t simple and can be difficult to communicate (see my colleague’s blog).

Is Landscape Urbanism a Threat?

Many Earth Advantage stakeholders are familiar with the term “new urbanism.” I generally describe new urbanism as a planning framework that encourages walkable neighborhoods, dense housing patterns, and proximity between residential and non-residential uses. But have you heard of the term “landscape urbanism”? Until last year, that was a new one for me as well.

Landscape urbanism is a planning/design approach that puts an emphasis on landscape and exterior elements of a project. Charles Waldheim is a leading figure in discussions surrounding landscape urbanism. He defines the term as “a theory … arguing that landscape, rather than architecture, is more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience” in his book, The Landscape Urbanism Reader. 

Protect Our Winters

Slashing First Tracks in the Blizzard of Climate Change Messaging

The one thing all skiers and snowboarders have in common is the question: "Is it snowing?" When the answer is "no" and suddenly it's 65 degrees at 10,000 ft. in February, even the drunkest ski bum will start searching for answers. Climate change? There is nothing simple about climate change and the information explaining it is often over most of our heads. Hopefully, a change is on the horizon. While the climate change industry is stuck on creating a global message, Protect Our Winters (POW) is doing the opposite. By taking a human approach, POW is simplifying the climate change message.

Healing Through Homes

With the war in Afghanistan now in its ninth year and no immediate end in sight, many of us have pushed the mission out of our immediate consciousness as something that’s happening “over there.” Occasionally we will be reminded of the violence by a particularly heinous or tragic event. Yet in our numbness we are prone to forget the real cost of the war in lives lost and lives changed, both military and civilian lives. As deaths and casualties continue we can expect to see the cost increasingly brought home to our own communities.

Already as many as 3,420 soldiers have been seriously injured in Afghanistan, not including the 31, 882 who were injured in Iraq. These wounded soldiers who volunteered to serve their country are now steadily returning home to their families and hometowns. After coping with physical healing and rehab, these men and women must now face re-integration into a society that is largely ignorant of what they went through, and deal with the more mundane but difficult stress of providing for family and functioning normally in society. 

New Homes Sales Tips: Competing Against Existing Homes

The Unique Advantage of High Performance Homes

One of the biggest challenges builders face is the inventory of existing homes for sale. The financial crisis has raised this issue to a critical point because much of this inventory consists of foreclosed homes that the lenders are selling at a deep discount. Realtytrac expects 1.2 million homes will be repossessed in 2011, which is 20% more than in 2010 and would signal the peak of this current foreclosure crisis. These foreclosed homes on the market are known as the “visible” inventory. Unfortunately, the housing market will not bounce back until most of these units have been sold, as consumers are hesitant to buy if they think prices will continue to drop.  Another threat is the “shadow” inventory, which are homes lenders have foreclosed on, or will soon, but are withholding from the market because they don’t want to further depress prices. Corelogic estimates that as of August 2010 the shadow inventory consisted of 2,100,000 housing units! The other component of existing inventory, speculative new home construction, is at historic lows. As of last November there were approximately 197,000 new homes for sale nationwide, the lowest since March 1968. Therefore, a new home builder is much more likely to be competing against an existing home than a new home.

Ready, Set… Earth Day Run 2011!

The 3^rd Annual Earth Day Run is coming up and this year's event is shaping up to be the most fun yet! Over 800 people came out last year to experience this great event focused around community, healthy lifestyles, and of course, our planet.

If you're not an avid runner, this is still an event for you! Last year, a woman ran with 4 dogs (actually, they ran her), and a man ran the 10k while pushing his twins in a stroller – he lost 20 pounds (okay, not really). Serious runners, don't worry, the people out to have an extra good time are the last ones out of the gate. The Earth Day Run is truly for all ages and abilities. Featuring a 10k Run, 5k Run/Walk/Doggie Run, Kids' race, and a Kids' Recycle run, there is an event for every member of the family.

Rivermark’s New Building Receives First Certification of its Kind!

Rivermark provides bike/walk-up teller access supporting alternative modes of transportation.

The new Rivermark Community Credit Union on SE Hawthorne has been certified!

Rivermark is at the top of our leadership list, since this is the first building to achieve certification under the Earth Advantage Commercial pilot program, and it was the first to enroll. In addition to numerous energy efficiency and green features that helped it meet certification, this building is just plain elegant! It is designed by Baysinger Partners and constructed by LMC Construction.

The building's energy efficiency measures include a high performance envelope, efficient HVAC with economizer cooling and night flush capabilities, and a lighting system that uses 35% less energy than code.  The project also adopted an acceptance testing protocol for all HVAC and lighting systems, and as a result, Rivermark was able to implement a number of post completion optimizations. 

The Silver Lining in Residential Design and Construction

An unprecedented number of architects, contractors, and real-estate related professionals in Oregon are currently unemployed or underemployed. It’s no secret that the housing industry has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the U.S. economy since the 2008 recession.  Despite the dark clouds that have surrounded the housing industry over the past two years, a silver lining has emerged.

Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2011

January is a time we all look forward to because the new year holds such promise. We believe it's going to be a promising year for the green building industry -- despite flat market conditions for conventional homes, we've seen market share for high performance homes increase from 18.5 to 23 percent in the Portland Metro area alone. In both Seattle and Portland 1 of every 4 new homes is certified. Clearly the time has come for energy efficiency, and with it, healthier green homes.

In keeping with the spirit of renewal, we are releasing our annual green building trends for 2011. The trends, which range from “affordable green” to lifecycle analysis of materials, were identified by Earth Advantage Institute based on discussions with a range of audiences over the latter part of 2010. These sectors include policymakers, builders, developers, architects, real estate brokers, appraisers, lenders, and homeowners. We encourage you take a look, cogitate and comment...

Greenbuild 2010: Sound Materials Decisions Can offer Immediate Carbon Reductions

So far Greenbuild 2010 has been jam-packed with great sessions.  Today's pick: Reducing Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment.  While energy efficiency is agreed to be a top priority for carbon reductions, speakers at this session also emphasized the importance of addressing the embodied energy and carbon in buildings (particularly those buildings that use significant amounts of concrete, a very GHG-intense material).  The well made argument was based on the fact that we need to achieve radical GHG reductions within the next twenty years to hit target levels. By reducing embodied carbon in the buildings we are building today, we can make those reductions immediately while also benefiting from the reduced emissions during occupancy as a result of energy efficiencies.   The bottom line: embodied carbon reductions provide the benefit of immediate emissions reductions.

Greenbuild 2010: EPS Goes TED

We were fortunate enough to be selected by USGBC to take part in a special initiative for select sessions at GreenBuild this year. This is part of USGBC’s efforts to keep the conference fresh and exciting for attendees. Our session on the Energy Performance Score (EPS), a Market Catalyst, was selected by the Special Programs Working Group to take place in a new interactive and multimedia environment in order to better engage the audience in our presentation. 

The project was not without peril. Our PowerPoint, which included man-on-the-street video interviews, was projected on a suspended cube hanging above a runway catwalk of sorts. The audience completely encircled the runway so that we had to walk, turn to all directions, pass off the single remote control, and talk at the same time, all without falling off (luckily the platform was only 16 inches high). Thanks to the USGBC providing rehearsal time, we were able to traverse the runway and engage the attendees in a fairly unusual format, while remaining safe. We opted not to take advantage of instant smartphone polling capability as we had enough to keep track of already.

Green Day Forum 2010: Design Today Must Reflect a New Spirit

With recent affirmation by the Army Corps of Engineers that Arctic warming has resumed at a record pace, the planet has never been under such stress. How can we change our built environment to be more harmonious with our earth? The PBS series E² points out that "design today must reflect a new spirit, one that sees nature and commerce as one; not as mutually exclusive but mutually coexistent."  

Featuring Edward Mazria on the future of design.

$11M DOE Award for EPS Builds Retrofit Momentum

It’s not often that you see a concept get traction fast, but the Energy Performance Score (EPS) is an idea that has gained considerable interest and a growing track record.

The most recent milestone for this residential energy labeling system – a miles-per-gallon style indicator that enables home-to-home comparisons of energy consumption and related carbon emissions -- is a multi-state award from the US Department of Energy for $11 million to roll out an EPS infrastructure for locales in Massachusetts, Virginia, Alabama and Washington. 

The New Site Has Arrived!

Welcome to Earth Advantage Institute’s new website and blog, a new interactive portal that’s designed to be a source of information and data -- for our growing green building and climate solutions community, as well as for those individuals and organizations just beginning to learn more about sustainable construction and carbon mitigation in the built environment.