Anyone Listening? -- My Green Home Building Experience

Like the age old question about that tree falling in the forest and no one there to hear it, I built an incredibly advance sustainable home in Venice CA, see www.737conserve.com in partnership with some big ole American companies, Kohler Lennox and GE to name a few, and I wonder if anyone cares? Green living roof? Check. Maybe the greenest pool ever built? Check. Geeky automation that keeps the house using as little energy as possible? Check. Crazy high efficiency cooling and heating, and if the house works properly, that system that will be rarely used, check. Water conservation throughout, check, check and you guessed it -- check.

Along with my partner Kelly Meyer, I was the original moving force behind project7ten, California's first conventionally built LEED Platinum home, and we couldn't believe the media focus on that project. That was then, this is now.

With 737conserve, I partnered up with 14 different companies, some of who donated their wares, others who sold them to me at a hefty discount. They did this because at the end of the day, the publicity we generate is a welcome, hassle-free trade off. But 737conserve was conceptualized before the "now" part of what's going on here in CA, and the rest of the world.

Representatives of companies, working with me, have been transferred or laid off. If they are still working for their respective companies, getting the word out that they have great environmental products, and a new genuine effort to reach high levels of sustainability seems to be less important, then surviving to see another day.

I get that, we all do. I am not silly enough to bite the hand(s) that feed me, both pragmatically and ideally. So thanks all you guys,

But this is my fear:

When the fake economy was all go go, the world was gaga over going green green. In my business of residential development, we had green realtors, green homes, green materials, hybrid pick-ups, blah blah blah.....

That focus, that path, seems to have dissipated in replaced by an effort and focus to just get through this mess. But the environment is suffering just as much as our economy. It was before the blowup, and nothing has changed. Yes, the caps are still melting, there is a drought west of the Mississippi, and the Colorado River has never been drier. I guess no one asked God if he would take a rain check on the environment, while we wait for TARP to bail out CitiBank.

I read an article in the LA Times about a week ago, where the writer suggested that the US government purchase 1 million of the new 53-MPG Prius's per year and give them away. In 10 years, our dependence on foreign oil imports would be reduced by close to 50%. Hey what used to sound like a far fetched idea, ($23 Billion/yr), sounds pretty damn reasonable to me.

Heck, I thought just give people a pro rata tax credit on their new car purchases: the less the gas-guzzler, the higher the tax credit. It wouldn't even have to be a free car. If we consumers got a $5,000 tax credit for buying a $24,000 Prius, Toyota dealerships would have to hire bouncers to man the doors.

So I have a suggestion for our new administration. Bailout money seems to be flowing in all directions. Turning our economy into a green economy was on our President's agenda. But so was health care reform, infrastructure and and a bunch of other stuff that might not be doable with the depth of the economic meltdown.

But you have to get people interested. We will come out of this mess, we will, but the environment does not need to be on hold. At least for the time being, incentivize the heck out of people's buying decisions. Need a new faucet? Well buy a new WaterSense water conserving one and get a tax credit. Furnace need replacing? Tax credits for you if an energy efficient one is purchased. Solar panels? Yeah I know we have rebate programs, but right now its just not enough of an incentive, even with the Federal tax credit. Put the tax credits for hybrids and other high efficiency auto purchases back in place, the list goes on.

So lets get some governmental folks together with the EPA and start to regulate a different problem that has remained out of control, regardless of all that has been written about it. Get us off that foreign oil. Our military spending is sure to be reduced. Get tax incentives in place for green building, clean cars, and alternative energy. Get them in place now. Make em higher if the product is manufactured in the US. The benefits will flow to the economy, the manufacturers, the consumer, and the environment. Truly a win win for all. The time is now.

Check out the 737conserve website, we asked "what if?"

Comments

[Catherine York]

i agree with faraji - people may want to pay for quality, but right now many don't have that luxury - no pun intended. wal-mart is king right now, not louis vuitton. also, we can create all the tax credits we want, but if nobody is making money, there is no tax liability to offset - so in essence you can't monetize the credit. hope to sell your credits in the market to finance your project? good luck. nobody else has tax appetite either. rebates provide a sensible approach to create incentives in this economy. rebates are unpredticable, so take them when you can. the only way consumers can afford to buy into energy efficiency now and reduce their consumption is if more companies start offering energy performance contracts (where they make money on the savings created, you pay nothing) or renewable energy through PPAs (where you only pay for the energy produced). no upfront costs for anything is the model that simplifies and thereby accelerates EE+RE adoption. LEED certification, while a wonderful objective, may be difficult to pay for today in a cash tight economy. PS i too am taking the LEED exam in may.

[CTC123]

Consider the Consider to:
Environmental Communication
SEEING-LIS­TENING-REA­DING-SPEAK­ING-WRITIN­G-ACTION
Please Google Search:
CTC123GREEN

[TXfemmom]

I have read that the Ford Fusion hybrid actually gets more miles per gallon than does the Prius and it was rated higher for many other things as well. It is going to cost $3,500 to $4,000 more, but give the tax break on the car provided it is made, along with its' batteries, here in the United States and everyone wins.

[AngieMom57]

After all this, how about something to eat!

Mexican Meatless Monday Menu

Corn Soup w/Nori Garnish
Black Bean Burritos on Spelt Tortillias
w/Sunflower Seed "Sour Cream"
Salad w/Cilantro Dressing
Spanish Rice
Sauteed Greens

[Kungfublood]

Now is good.

[mydwyf]

We just built a 1600 sq foot home (our biggest yet !) from 8 inch timbers sawn from standing dead spruce.
That's pretty green. No insulation needed, either. (This is in Fairbanks, where we know all about cold).
Log homes are environmentally less toxic, they are nice to live in, and they really don't cost that much if you don't get carried away. (The sawn timbers for our nine foot walls, 40 feet on a side, cost $11,000.)
Google 'log cabin kits' or 'vacation log cabins' and you'll get a good idea of variety, options, and cost.

Our next project may be a semi-subterranean home built into a south-facing slope, with the walls made of either rammed earth or poured hempcrete.

[thollandpe]

I don't think green is a luxury that will be tossed aside now that times are tougher. People will pay for quality, so it's necessary to separate green style from green function. And to assess that we need numbers. We've made energy use so invisible in this country it's maddening.

I think $4 a gallon gasoline would have been even more onerous if people actually had to peel off $20 bills and lay them on the counter, instead of swiping a card or waving their speed pass.

Water is billed in 100 cu.ft. increments, just like natural gas . . . what's that look like? Electric bills do their damnedest to hide the real info in three pages of numbers, and oil is delivered automatically while you're at work. Everybody knows that 15 mpg is "bad" and 30 mpg is "good" for a car, but how much energy does your house use?

So please tell us yours, and let's make this a topic of conversation. And conservation . . .

[Thermodynamics]

Generally the environmental movement has rational goals but many of those goals run counter to the interests of the old dinosaurs.

One clue to the behavior of the US for the last decade is that plenty of special interest groups wanted to keep military spending high because that is where they made their profit. Other groups wanted to keep fuel spendng up, because that was here they made their profit, etc, etc.

Viewed in this bizarro way the war in Iraq has been a full success because it has caused lots of spending, and lots of profits.

[Faraji Whalen]

Made a really good point about the ubiquity of green during the "go-go" economy. What your article, and a lot of similar sentiment, has shown us is the failure of the green movement up to this point to declare itself a value. The whole economic idea behind energy conservation and innovation is that it not only saves the planet, it saves you money. But we're still talking about the "green premium," not the green savings, which means that there is a perception or reality (or a bit of both) that green costs. Which is fine when you're rolling in that bonus dough, but even as someone who's incorporated green features in my developments and is planning to take the LEED exam in May, unless someone can sell me on either an instant savings or a lightning fast payback period, right now I'm not interested in paying more for anything. I think your house is unbelievable. But until you can build that house for the same construction costs or less than the cookie-cutter uninsulated Pulte home down the street, unfortunately, no one's really going to be interested.