Sunday, November 22, 2009

Green Real Estate Sales Data

I am struck by the lack of transparency that the Real Estate Industry has in getting trackable information about sales, especially green real estate sales.  I have been looking everywhere for information, while circling back to Green Works Realty's site.

   Over the past 2 years, Green Works Realty has been publishing sales information for tracked Environmentally Certified Homes throughout King County and Seattle.  The data is amazing!

This shows that there has been a increase of nearly 40% price on Green Certified projects. This is really astounding.


This graph shows how the market is really fluctuating these days.  The current market is fairly slow to pick up on Green Building Certification Systems, but with the addition of the checkboxes in the MLS (Green Works Founder - Ben Kaufman pushed to have them added a couple years ago) has given the tools for the Real Estate industry to track these sales.

There is not much information out there about Green Real Estate at this time.  If you are interested in seeing the report that Green Works has put out, click here.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Stunning Reclaimed Furniture with Deep Southern Roots

Stunning Reclaimed Furniture with Deep Southern Roots: "Turning House reclaimed furniture photo

Furniture made from reclaimed wood, whether it be from the wild or from a collapsing warehouse, expresses the human and natural history of the region it was plucked from. Last week I wrote about Urban Woods, an LA-based furniture shop whose materials reflect the unique environs of California. This week, Garden & Gun (one of my favorite southern magazines) turned me on to Turning House Furniture, a ...Read the full story on TreeHugger


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Beyond LEED: Living Building Challenge 2.0 Certification Unveiled

Beyond LEED: Living Building Challenge 2.0 Certification Unveiled: "

sustainable design, green design, green building certification system, living building challenge 2.0, international living building institute, sustainable architecture

This week the International Living Building Institute released its new green building standard to the public at Greenbuild 2009. Version 2.0 expands on its already impressive focus to now cover social issues – any Certified Living Building must be net-zero energy, net-zero water, non-toxic, provide for habitat restoration on sister sites, and urban agriculture is mandated. The 20 imperatives, all of which must be addressed, go well beyond the simple efficiency standards that our industry seems content to comply with before calling a project ’sustainable’. Seriously, read this thing!

LBC


Read the rest of Beyond LEED: Living Building Challenge 2.0 Certification Unveiled


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Perkins & Will Precautionary List

http://transparency.perkinswill.com/default.aspx  <-- link via Caroline James (Thanks!)


Perkins+Will Launches First Chemical Blacklist for Building Designers

Published November 10, 2009

New York, NY — Architectural design firm Perkins+Will has created a list of 25 chemicals that are commonly used in the building industry but also pose a number of health threats to humans and the environment.

With its new Perkins+Will Precautionary List, the firm is hoping to educate designers, architects and others in the world of buildings about the chemicals, their dangers and alternatives. Perkins+Will is also hoping that the list, which will grow over time, will spur the creation of alternatives where they currently do not exist.

"We realized that a lot of this information is siloed, either intentionally or not," said Peter Syrett, associate principal at Perkins+Will and one of the creators of the list. "This is an attempt to take what we thought are the most common questionable chemicals in our work as designers and identify them and a more cautious approach to using them."

Each entry for a chemical on the free, online list includes the chemical name, its origin and source, a summary of its health impacts, a list of building products where it's commonly found, alternative materials, regulations, known and suspected health effects and links to government databases.

Some of the chemicals on the list are arsenic, bisphenol A, cadmium, copper, halogenated and brominated flame retardants, lead, mercury, phthalates, polystyrene and PVC.

"All these chemicals have either been listed or classified on government regulatory lists as cautionary chemicals, so we set that as a guidepost," Syrett said.

While government regulations are the minimum that companies must comply with, more and more companies in various industries are going beyond what the law calls for by redesigning products to eliminate or reduce certain chemicals that have been linked to health issues but are not yet regulated. One reason companies are taking that extra step is in anticipation of further regulation; the EPA is even calling for reform to the U.S.'s chemical law. Brand management is another reason; using suspect chemical bisphenol A, even in safe amounts, caused a huge backlash against water bottle maker SIGG. Pressure from environmental groups is another impetus; Greenpeace have been pushing for greener electronics for some time, and a recent report highlighted innovations developed by Apple, Sony Ericsson and others.

The Perkins+Will list can be searched by chemical name, building category (like flame retardants, heavy metals and wood additives), building divisions and sections (concrete, masonry, finishes, etc.) and health effects.

The list got started when Perkins+Will interior designer Chris Youssef was working on designing a cancer center and, since a cancer center would be the worst place to have unhealthy chemicals lingering, wanted to avoid using any known or suspected carcinogens.

Now that they have compiled their research on the chemicals, Perkins+Will hopes to make more designers aware of the chemical impacts and help open up dialogue about safer alternatives between designers and suppliers. Youssef said that dialogue will hopefully lead to the creation of safer alternatives for chemicals that have no alternatives.

"Our goal is a simple one, that we should not specify products that are harmful to humans, animals and the environment," said Syrett.




Tuesday, November 10, 2009

North America embraces Conservation Practices

















There is a nice short article over at "The Green Life", here is the text and link from it.


http://bit.ly/2VDNiN
<-- article

Despite the frustration of stalled talks leading up to Copenhagen, negotiations in North America are moving forward. Last week, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, announced at the 9th World Wilderness Congress a trilateral partnership to address wilderness conservation -- the first formal agreement by nations to cooperate on a continent-wide conservation matter.

The agreement, which was signed by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, will benefit North American wilderness regions during a crucial environmental period. Its intent is that the countries share successful conservation experiences and monitoring and training practices, including financing projects to protect wild places.
The partnership will also be instrumental in climate-change monitoring and adaptation, as it will better allow for analyzing ecosystems, migratory wildlife, and natural resources across borders, even while accommodating native approaches to wildlife conservation.

--Michael Mullaley

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

GREEN - The First and Only Recognized Certification for Real Estate Agents and Property Managers

Interesting contrast between the GREEN label and EcoBroker.

The only article I could find that compared them is skewed to Ecobroker. I am still on the look out for a good comparison of EcoBroker to NAR GREEN...

You can the article I found below:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1008979/eco-broker-vs-nar-s-green-designation-

Sunday, November 1, 2009

What is Green Real Estate Vlog Introduction Video