Ultimate Open House

If you visited the R.E.X. Project in April during the Ultimate Open House when the house was nothing buts studs you are going to want to visit the R.E.X. Project again now that it is finished.

You can see the results for yourself on Portland’s Build It Green! home tour this Saturday, Sept. 20. Tickets are available online at www.portlandonline.com/osd/builditgreen or at Ecohaus, 819 S.E. Taylor St., Portland.

See how far the project has come on Shannon’s Blog.

In April, Oregon’s new residential building code took effect, raising energy efficiency requirements to equal EnergyStar standards for new homes. To qualify for an EnergyStar rating a home must be 15 percent more efficient than the 2004 international residential code for buildings.

The new code aims to reduce home energy use by 10 to 15 percent in the state by 2015 in order to help meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals of 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

State building codes officials also expect to continue increasing efficiency and sustainability standards over the next decade. Industry associations and nonprofits have taken notice and are starting to offer more training for builders that want to be prepared.

The Oregon Home Builders Association plans to launch a pilot project this month with the city of Portland to build eight to 12 high-efficiency homes throughout the city to serve as models for green building practices. Also, Starting Sept. 26, Earth Advantage will offer a six-month certification course in green building for appraisers, architects, builders, real estate agents, inspectors and other building industry professionals.

Story from The Daily Journal of Commerce.  Read more here…

Luxury homebuilder, Beacon Homes, is preserving trees and nativescaping in its newest neighborhood, Lady Apple in Tigard.  The site had many western red cedar, oak, hawthorn, big leaf maple, douglas firs and red alder native trees.  Arborists, local landscapers and tree preservation experts aided in saving over 50 mature trees, plus Beacon was able to plant over 7,000 natives such as currants, Oregon grapes, alders, douglas fir and three kinds of native roses in the neighborhood. 

“The beauty of the site was clearly the trees and native plants.  Our team did an outstanding job of preparing the site and the result is a really beautiful neighborhood.  The buyers have certianly pointed out the trees, plants and landscaping of the site as one of the main reasons for deciding to live there,” said Kurt Dalbey, chief executive officer.

According to the Cohousing Assocition of the United States…Cohousing communities are old-fashioned neighborhoods created with a little ingenuity. They bring together the value of private homes with the benefits of more sustainable living. That means common facilities and good connections with neighbors. All in all, they stand as innovative answers to today’s environmental and social problems.

Although Cohousing communities may seem radical to some they are becoming more and more mainstream.  As a matter of fact there are at least 3 cohousing projects under construction right now in the Portland Metro area.  Plus, later this month a symposium is scheduled at Portland City Hall to discuss collaborative housing developements and a community-based approach to design and developement.

Read more about cohousing in the Oregonian…

• Cohousing Condos Unite Bicyle Fans
• Metro area co-housing communities have units available for sale
• Portland renters have an new option

and the Daily Journal of Commerce….

• Fostering a sense of Community
• Cohousing is an attractive investment for bank

While it is not a substitute for fertilizer, compost contains nutrients and holds them in the soil until plants can use them. It also loosens and aerates clay soils, and retains water in sandy soils. Here are some common ways to use finished compost:

Soil amendment: Mix 2 to 5 inches of compost into vegetable and flower gardens each year before planting.
Potting mixture: Add one part compost to two parts commercial potting soil, or make your own mixture by using equal parts of compost and sand or perlite.
Mulch: Spread an inch or two of compost around annual flowers and vegetables, and up to 6 inches around trees and shrubs.
Top dressing for lawn: Mix finely sifted compost with sand and sprinkle evenly over lawns.

Click here to check out Metro’s guide to effective composting.

From the Oregonian, August 22nd 

Air conditioning makes a summer hot spell bearable — but at a cost.

Air conditioners suck electricity, picking your pocket and increasing demand on polluting power plants. Conventional air conditioning uses chlorine compounds, which are suspects in depleting the ozone layer and contributing to global warming.

Home air conditioners make constant noise. They operate best in closed houses, so allergists warn of molds and dust, while psychologists worry that individuals become sealed off from one another.

But you don’t have to hurt the Earth, or your psyche, to stay comfortable in the summer. Some quick and easy solutions:

Cover windows against the sun. Exterior awnings or shades stop the sun’s rays before they hit the window and can reduce heat by as much as 75 percent. Thick, close-knit draperies trap heat, and even indoor blinds help turn back some of the sun’s rays.

In the cool of the evening, open windows at the highest and lowest parts of your house to create a chimney effect for removing hot air. A window fan facing out also sucks the heat out.

Sources: www.planetfriendly.net, www.earthshare.org, www.sustain.tribe.net

Biking is a great choice for short to medium trips. In a region known for great cycling, there are many reasons to consider biking as a transportation option from cost savings to improving your health and fitness.

Biking is healthy, for you, and the planet. A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe.

Biking will increase your level of physical activity, help you lose or maintain weight and improve your energy level. Biking will also help you beat high gas prices as you pedal your way to better health.

A variety of conveniences throughout the metro area, including bike lockers, racks and changing facilities, make biking a great option for getting where you need to go.

Click here to learn more about Bike There! Metro’s popular bike route map.

Over half of the land in the Portland metropolitan area is privately owned. So when it comes to improving and protecting the nature and character of the place we call home, the practices used in every household and backyard matter. And that means every person really can make a difference!

Make the place you call home nature-friendly with these practices:

preserving and planting trees
native plants and natural gardening
pervious pavement or pavers
rain gardens
disconnected downspouts, ecoroofs and rainwater harvesting

Over the past year, 3 percent of all new homes sold in the Portland metro area carried a sustainable or “green” certification. These homes earned more in the market than non-certified homes, selling for an average price of $223 per square foot, versus $185 per square foot for non-certified, traditionally built homes, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS). 

Realtors who have completed the Earth Advantage S.T.A.R. (Sustainability Training for Accredited Real Estate Professionals) program know how to help home shoppers find homes with sustainable qualities.

More than 375 agents have received this certification. S.T.A.R.-certified agents have completed a two-day training program about sustainable living, green building and how to communicate those concepts to buyers and sellers.

Find S.T.A.R. certified agents at the Earth Advantage website.

“High Performance” is a term you usually see associated with expensive cars. But more and more, it’s a term homebuilders are using to describe their houses.

A case in point is “The High Performance Home,” at 8230 S.W. Sorrento Road in Beaverton, one of more than 90 properties listed in this year’s Ultimate Open House home show.

Built by Lifestyle Homes, it is a model of energy efficiency, using computer-aided framing for greater stability and less waste, and providing healthy indoor air. Many of its innovative features were developed by Parr Lumber, which collaborated with Lifestyle Homes owner Mike Arnett on the home.  read more