Affordable Green Home Plans from a Certified EA Professional

Recently an Earth Advantage Institute certified Sustainable Homes Professional, Bruce Butler, wrote to us to let us know how our training paid off for him. Bruce has developed sustainable house plans for stock plan purchase.

I'd like to add that the pay-off is really for all of us. These aren't your ordinary stock plans! As we move toward more sustainable building, we need designers like Bruce to make house plans available to builders and consumers.

Ecodistrict Features May Enhance Corporate Campuses

Clonburris, a new proposal for an EcoDistrict located in Ireland, presents a model for sustainability in the Dublin Metropolitan area. (image source)

The rising interest in “ecodistricts” by cities and neighborhoods represents the expansion -- to a community level -- of the growing trends toward greater energy efficiency, more local services, and a sustainable quality of life. Cities including Portland, Denver, and Salt Lake City have begun to explore and implement various styles of ecodistricts, in particular as part of urban renewal efforts.

However, taking the ecodistrict concept a step further makes it applicable to industrial campuses and business parks as well. Businesses are communities also. An ecodistrict approach can translate to lower costs over the long term through energy efficiency, a healthier working environment, loyal employees, and community engagement and visibility.

Don’t put a V-8 in your Vespa

Would anyone think it’s wise to put a V-8 engine in a Vespa scooter? Well, I can think of some suicidal television talent that might think that was cool. With the famous last words -- “Watch this!” -- they would ride into oblivion. But, most of us aren’t showing off for the camera. 

We’re more or less rational, so applying unnecessary power to a problem seems wasteful. But that’s standard practice for most new homes built with forced air systems. With today’s modern energy standards, a forced air furnace is typically oversized. For example, a new, 2200 sq. ft. home built to the current Northwest ENERGY STAR (2008) standard would have a design heat load of about 28,000 btu/hr. That’s the amount of heating capacity needed to keep the house comfortable in the coldest expected conditions for western Oregon and east of the Cascades. 

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.

The State of the Union, Clean Coal Ads, Green Jobs , Energy Efficiency and Van Jones.

Best quote of the week: In a discussion of building energy efficiency and building performance labeling, and making an analogy to the current requirement to provide miles per gallon information when selling a car, Van Jones proclaimed: “It’s criminal that we don’t provide Energy Performance Scores on all our buildings.”

Worst quote of the week: In online ads interrupting the State of the Union address: “Clean Coal.” Courtesy of the American Coalition of Clean Coal Electricity 

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of joining Van Jones in a roundtable discussion preceding his lecture hosted by the University of Oregon on “The Next American Economy.”  Van Jones is a leader in the clean energy economy and social justice movements, a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress, a senior policy advisor at Green For All, and is the author of the NYT bestseller The Green Collar Economy.  What I enjoyed most about the conversation with Jones was his emphasis on Efficiency First, both as a policy approach, as well as a personal approach. In fact, he suggested that everyone should have a “house tune up,” just like we schedule our regular car tune ups.  As a green building non-profit, EAI focuses specifically on energy efficiency, but as Jones points out, it should be a priority for everyone.  Why exactly, you ask? What about renewables? 

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 Scoop on LEED for Homes Mid-Rise

Design Team-Friendly, Family-Friendly

After several years as a pilot program, the LEED for Homes Mid-Rise rating system was officially launched by the USGBC near the end of 2010. We now have several projects that have been enrolled in the program and are now under construction.

The Mid-Rise program is designed for multifamily projects in the 4-6 story range, including those that may have a mixed-use component. It can be seen as a hybrid program between the LEED for Homes low-rise rating system and the LEED for New Construction program for commercial projects. Major differences in the Mid-Rise program from the standard LEED for Homes program include full unit-compartmentalization, measures that address the nature of larger multifamily projects such as bicycle parking, increased compact development, and tobacco smoke reduction. One other big difference is that the energy pathway for mid-rise projects will require the project’s energy performance to be at least 14% better than the ASHRAE 90.1 standard.

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.

What does it take to make a green home?

It’s more than bamboo floors and low-VOC paint.  A green home contains a collection of design elements, materials, and equipment assembled with careful attention to detail.

The global economy is about to enter the zero-energy generation. Over the next 2 decades, residential buildings will evolve to a point where they generate as much energy as they consume over the course of a typical year. Because it is generally less expensive to conserve energy than it is to generate energy, this “net-zero” energy approach starts with the outside shell: floors, walls, and ceilings. It’s like an overcoat and requires as much insulating value as can be accommodated in the walls, ceilings, and floors. Air leakage must be restricted as much as possible by sealing every opening, crack, and penetration with caulk, gaskets, or expanding foam sealant. Windows lose 7 to 10 times more heat than walls, so the windows must be oriented to maximize or minimize heat loss and solar gain as appropriate to the local climate and building design. The building shell has no moving parts and should last the life of the house, so it pays to make it as efficient as possible at the outset.

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.