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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. 

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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…)

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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.

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If going solar would cost you nothing would you consider it?  A few weeks ago I attended a small Green Business Show in San Jose, where our local vendors had a chance to present their services to the community.  These shows are always a great fun because green vendors pack a good punch of specialized knowledge. 

That day, one of my inquisition victims was Jeremy, a solar design consultant with Solar Technologies.  So I started as usual… “How are you”, “How’s business?”, and then “Why in the world don’t we have more solar panels in our neighborhoods?” 

After quite a few minutes of warm exchange of insights we realized we haven’t come up with anything that much revealing except for one awesome fact – affording solar energy is not as hard as most home owners think.  In fact, it makes total financial sense.  We parted by sharing one last sentiment  – most home owners simply have not taken a chance to look at this opportunity. 

So why most of us have not embraced the sun as a source of energy? 

1.  The main reason home owners have not adopted solar technology more widely is because of initial cost.  These days it’s in the range of about $25,000 -$28,000 for an average 1,600 square foot home.  Big price tag indeed. 

2.  A secondary rationale is esthetics – some folks feel that having big solar panels on their roof hurts the curb appeal of the property.  

3.  A third reason most folks have not gone solar could be one or a combination of these simple reasons: they are not sensitive to environmental issues of today’s world or they are simply waiting for a kick in the (more…)

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It’s been official for months now – California again is facing water crisis. Unusually dry and hot weather had eroded our priceless Sierra snowpack, the supply of much of our water.  Our local reservoirs have been low for years now. In addition, water demand in beautiful state is growing each year and our sources of water are drying up.

Climate change models demonstrate that California will become a much drier place in our lifetimes.  Not only precipitation will likely decrease, but our precious Sierra snowpack is expected to shrink and leave of only with 10% of its current capacity.

Even more interesting, according to the California Energy Commission, 20% of our state’s electricity is used for the treatment and pumping of water.  Groundwater pumping has greatly shrunk our underground aquifers.  Parts of the San Joaquin Valley has now seen soil level drop 50’ from the removal of groundwater. Every single river in California has been dammed, wiping out fish populations, including endangered Chinook salmon. Two out of five most endangered rivers in the U.S. are in California. 

Let’s face it; this is not our grandkid’s head ache. Very soon water will become a treasured commodity.  Sadly, you’d never know it by the way we are dumping it down the drain. A traditional home has potable water piped in from a local water supplier. Amazingly, one half of this water is used for irrigation, where potable water is absolutely unnecessary. Almost all the remainder is used for non-potable water needs in the house, where it is then flushed down the drain to our local sewage treatment plant.

Now that sewage plant spends an enormous amount of time, money and energy treating this so called “greywater” like raw sewage.  This makes no sense, does it?

Here are two ways to re-use water already available to us (more…)

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Whether you live in San Jose or any other part of the world, energy is an essential part of our lives. Our bodies need it to function and stay focused, and our homes need it for lighting, powering appliances, electronics, heating, cooling and even charging our cell phones. Most of us don’t even think about energy until a power outage occurs and we find ourselves reading our favorite novel under the candle light.  Yet another punch of reality may settle in when we are faced with that ever bigger utility bill. 

Did you know that residential buildings account for nearly a quarter of the worlds carbon emissions (21%)?  Nationally, energy prices in the residential building sector have maintained the highest in relation to other well known sectors such as transportation, industrial, and commercial buildings. The state of California is ranked among the top states in the nation for highest energy costs – only coming in lower than some east coast states and Hawaii.  

So what can we do to lower the pain on those energy bills and go easy on the environment?  Well, one way is to start being mindful of it and applying some “controlled conservation.”  It is easily one of the best methods of reducing high energy costs.  It includes shutting off lights, taking shorter showers and using energy at off peak hours.  This just the tip of the iceberg for energy conservation but most of us don’t do it.  Why?  Well, controlled conservation can (more…)

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When most people hear about “Greening” their San Jose home they automatically think solar panels. While it is true that getting off the grid is fun and rewarding there are many more simple steps we can take towards a more greener home.  In fact, installing expensive solar panels may not make sense if we have a drafty, energy leaking house.

Since homes produce twice as more greenhouse gas emissions than all passenger cars, giving your San Jose house a green energy tune-up may be the best place to start.  It is incredible how much money you can save by simply implementing a few tips: 

1.      If your heating bill is higher than your mortgage and your Persian cat is wearing a sweater it’s time to change those windows.  By replacing old single pane windows you will not only be more comfortable in your house but also put a plug into one of your main enegry leaking sources.       

2.         Switch all of your light bulbs to fluorescent type. They are four times as efficient as traditional incandescent bulbs, and they last 10 times as long.  You can find them (more…)

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