SanJoseGreenHome.com

In a market where hardly anyone is building green in San Jose, this newly constructed house in Milpitas area stands as a monument of energy efficiency and inspiration.  

It is about 35% more energy efficient than a standard home and prides itself on green elements like engineered lumber, radiant barrier roof, solar water heater, energy star furnace, extra thick insulation, excellent indoor air quality and much more.  

Come with us on a video tour and discover for yourself what makes this property truly unique.

This beauty is a five year project by Green Earth Construction, a Milpitas based and family run company.  Sylvia Leung and her husband had a vision to go green 15 years ago and are finally able to marvel at the fruits of their labor.  In addition to what you’ve seen on the video, keep in mind that the home is wired for solar and if one decided to invest into solar panels, one’s utility bills for the most part of the year could be virtually zero.  Now that’s a good number, isn’t it? 

Building green normally commands higher costs so perhaps the most pleasant detail about this home is that when considering a dollar per square foot basis, the home is priced comparably to a 25 year old home.  If you like more details, you can find all the info under Featured Listings on http://GreenHomeParter.com.  Feel free to contact me directly with any questions. 

First off, a few burning questions… Have high upfront costs derailed your renewable energy or energy efficiency projects? Would receiving positive cash flow from day one make your clean energy project more attractive? Are you worried that it may be difficult to recoup your investment in clean energy if you sell your property?

To resolve these issues and accelerate the implementation of energy upgrades to commercial and residential property, cities and counties across the nation are offering PACE, a new financing model for clean energy projects.

To learn more about how PACE works and how it can benefit businesses and homeowners, I recently spoke with Dennis Tsu, who manages Business Development for Commercial PACE with Renewable Funding. Based in Oakland, Renewable Funding is the leader in the turnkey administration of PACE programs.

What is PACE?

William Dinkel: Could you please provide a brief summary of PACE programs for our readers?

Dennis Tsu: First off, PACE is an acronym for Property Assessed Clean Energy. The basic concept is to allow residential and commercial property owners to borrow money from their local governments to use for making energy efficiency or alternative energy improvements to their properties, and then to pay that money back through a (more…)

Many of us have had a relationship with the stock market of some sorts at one time or another.  Maybe you had more luck but when I bought into the hype in 2001 and lost a chunk in one week, my enthusiasm evaporated like the morning’s dew.  Then I came across a statement by Scott Case from EnergySavvy that read: “Home Energy Retrofits are 3.5X More Valuable Than Microsoft Stock: The 5-Year Payback on Home Energy Retrofit vs. Buying Microsoft Stock.”  Hmmm… given the previously disappointing outcome with the stock market, this sounded like an interesting proposition so I asked him to elaborate for us all here:

“To illustrate the impact of doing a home energy retrofit as an investment, here’s a simplified example. Let’s say 5 years ago, a homeowner in Philadelphia named Julie was deciding between buying $10,000 of Microsoft stock as an investment or spending that same amount of money on a home energy retrofit to reduce her utility bills. What would have been the better 5-year investment?

The Microsoft stock worth $10,000 in May 2005 would have turned into just over $12,100 five years later (a return of 21% over 5 years), including the increase in stock price and the dividends paid out over the course of the 5 years. But it turns out that (more…)

When many of us think of a solar home we normally envision a specially designed, carefully crafted construction .  Hardly ever we can think of a modest 1,200 square foot tract home in South San Jose as being a model for passive solar benefits that almost all of us can achieve.  This is exactly what Frank Schiavo did when he retrofitted his 1978 home to harvest our greatest energy source – the sun.

Frank was an extraordinary man.  He was an enthusiastic passive solar home consultant, environmental educator at San Jose State and an avid social change advocate.  One of his most fascinating qualities was that he produced no trash.  That’s right; he composted everything and never bought anything that he couldn’t recycle.  He even stopped paying garbage bills to the city which was a highly controversial and highly publicized move.  Gotta love this spirit of sustainability!

Unfortunately Frank passed away very unexpectedly last January, just a week before we planned to meet, but he leaves his solar legacy behind for all of us to marvel at and learn from.  He really wanted to use his house as a way of teaching others about benefits of a green solar home “on a budget”.

As a very tiny way of repaying his years of kindness to the community I would like to share with you some of the things that Frank was able to accomplish in his home (more…)

We all love a good myth. “Goldfish have a memory of only three seconds”, “Water drains backwards in the Southern Hemisphere due to the Earth’s rotation”, or maybe “A dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s”.  It’s all fun stuff until we actually spend cash on things that we thought will do us good but end up to be a complete waste of money.  This may come us no surprise but some very commonly believed energy upgrades seem to be just that – myths.

Rob Moddy is a fellow USGBC member who often whips out a masterful blog entry.  It’s just so hard not to share this one with you.  Here he highlights a talk given by building scientist Michael Blasnik at the Department of Energy’s National Weatherization Training Conference, particularly the problems with inaccurate computer models in determining weatherization strategies and effective home energy improvement measures. 

As originally posted on GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, this is a list of common strategies for home weatherization that don’t save much energy. If you don’t want to waste your time and money, these are the strategies to avoid or closely evaluate: (more…)

This is first net-zero carbon house in UK that reaches the highest level of sustainability. Dubbed the Lighthouse, the highly eco-friendly house was designed to “encourage a way of living that is inherently ‘light’ on the world’s resources whilst combining the practicalities of today’s average homeowner.

Almost all of us use the words green and sustainable interchangeably as if they have the same meaning.  But the more one delves deeper into the nuances, the more this funny little feeling starts creeping in that there seems to be some interesting differences there in these two noble concepts.  Why does it even matter?  Simply because by being able to separate the two we can make better decisions as consumers and become more mindful and equitable participants in our society.   

The product manufacturers, as well as building industry would certainly benefit by embracing “Sustainable” vs simply “Green” practices. Whereas green addresses mostly environmental elements, sustainable takes a more comprehensive view, including environmental, economic, social, and cultural elements. 

For example, a more sustainable and socially responsible approach to manufacturing would entail a fair and humane treatment of overseas workers, while the building community would certainly include a standard of quality well in excess of mere code compliance for “green” construction”. 

You see, building a house out of vastly renewable wood from a thousand miles away or engineered lumber, installing solar panels and solar water heater to satisfy the energy needs of the building would be enough to deem it “green”.  However, if the construction quality is poor and not much effort was invested into longevity of the structure (more…)

Some say that remodeling green is an incredibly joyful adventure.  Some feel that planning, choosing, and fighting with one’s spouse over the colors and materials is more painful than waxing ears.  Whatever your position is, these tips will make your experience more enjoyable.  Most of this advice comes from experience or friends in the community.  

When remodeling green, avoid making these mistakes: 

1.  Getting excited about eco-chic materials first and busting your budget.  It’s hard to resist starting with items like recycled glass countertops  or FSC  certified cabinets but do focus on upgrading you home’s energy efficiency first.  Start with things like water tightening you walls, insulation, windows, furnace and solar water heater.  If you have money left, go for the updates that make your nest more fun and cozy.

2.  Going overboard on upgrades for the neighborhood.  Significantly over-improving only feels good until you’re trying to sell your home.  If you only knew how often an overpriced home simply sits on the market because the homeowners are trying to recoup their fortune that they spent on remodeling…  Depending on the price range, few buyers will likely pay extra $30,000 – $50,000 above neighborhood market price, even if your home is a model of energy efficiency.

3.  Failing to take a holistic approach.  Often, when you change your home’s one component, it affects all others.  For example, (more…)

Have you heard about the many rebates, incentives and tax credits available for you now or in the near future?  It’s been all over the media, and you might have heard about it from the President himself – Energy Efficiency in our homes is critical for a sustainable, healthy and fruitful future. In fact he called it “sexy.”  Way to go Mr. President! 

According to a memo by the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board,

 “There are 100 million homes in America, and energy-saving measures like insulation, caulking, and heating and cooling system upgrades can reduce household energy consumption by 10 percent to 40 percent.” One little problem… Who’s really going to cough up all this hard earned cash these days to make their homes more “green”? 

Now, it’s safe to say that there are plenty of DIY projects for homeowner to get started on, i.e. programmable thermostats, smart power strips, CFL lighting, low-flow shower heads and faucets etc. but, to attack more than these items and gain greater energy reductions typically requires professional services; and it’s not cheap to retrofit a home. 

For example, some of the services that are typical of a home retrofit would require (more…)

Did you know that your roof color can actually affect your energy bill, your comfort in the house and even contribute to climate change?  It’s true.  Our usually dark colored composition roofs contribute to what is called an “urban heat island.”  The problem with most of home roofs is that they absorb the heat of the sun, the temperature of the area rises and our air conditioners have to work much harder to keep us all cool and cozy. 

What’s a Heat Island? 

No, it’s not an island in the Bahamas.  The term “heat island” describes built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas.  According to the EPA, the annual air temperature of a city with 1 million people or more can be 1.8–5.4°F warmer than its surroundings. In the evening, the difference can be as high as 22°F. 

Source: EPA Website

Heat islands are no joke.  They can affect communities by increasing summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and heat-related illness.    

What Can Home Owners Do? 

Very simple.  Next time you are replacing your roof, opt for a (more…)

Sure we can talk about green products like bamboo floors and solar cell phone chargers but with our homes accounting for a 21% of total U.S. carbon emissions, the focus is obvious – energy efficiency.

If we really want to reduce pollution and our carbon footprint we ought to be honest with ourselves and start with things that have the biggest impact.  Yes, it’s true, caulking those windows to improve the efficiency of our homes is not as sexy as the designer eco-smart, ventless fireplace in the corner but we have to be real, don’t we?

Green products are fun, really, but when it comes to a more holistic approach to lowering our impact on the environment, nothing is more effective than making some smart improvements like tightening that ductwork, good insulation, and weather stripping.

Enjoy this fun video where you will go on a room by room tour of a typical home and receive tips on energy improvements while tapping your foot to some groovy music in the background.

By making smart improvements we can usually make our homes more comfortable and efficient at a fraction of the cost.  Doesn’t matter whether we own or rent, sustainability starts at home.