I will be the first to admit that I certainly don’t know even half of what there is to know to lead a completely green lifestyle. In fact, I have never personally purchased a carbon offset. I don’t travel much and try to take steps to be efficient with my driving. That being said, I am always trying to educate myself and I saw a tweet come across from someone I am following on Twitter that alerted me to a very educational article about Renewable Energy Certificates vs. Carbon Offsets. Evidently it really is all about emissions…

In the U.S., there are two parallel and related, but distinct,environmental markets — the market for renewable energy certificates (REC) and the market for voluntary emission reductions (VERs), also known as carbon offsets.

Learn more by reading REC vs. Carbon Offset: Do You Know the Difference?

Just reported by HUD ~

A fake “HUD” website was recently discovered – http:/bailout.hud-gov.us/ – It tries to dupe people into giving out personal information (phishing) and because the site appears to be an “official US government website” some people may fall prey to this scam.

Please advise people to stay away from this website. This matter is under investigation by the Inspector General’s office.

I am blogging live from the quarterly High Point Neighborhood Association meeting. The theme is “Doing MORE with LESS Impact on the Environment”.

We are using the meeting room at Elizabeth House, and can not WAIT for the High Point Neighborhood Center construction to be complete. I will post a picture soon of how the construction site is looking – it is finally going vertical. Ray Li, the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Neighborhood House,, just gave an update to how the project is going and the opening is planned for October. The handout that was passed out is very exciting, and I will try to find an online version to link to or upload a PDF. A rain garden, solar panels, and the use of pervious and light-colored (reflective) natural materials to reduce runoff and the “heat-sink” affect of concrete (respectively) will all be implemented at this site.

The building will be the first LEED(TM) Gold-certified building constructed by a nonprofit agency in Washington, meeting the highest standard of environmental design and sustainability as designated by the US Green Building Council.

We also have a guest from Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association here to discuss “Team Delridge”, a new program of King County Food and Fitness initiative. There will be a meeting on Monday, March 23rd, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Southwest Community Center. The community conversation will include goals that will form the Community Action Plan supported by the Kellogg Foundation over the next 10 years.

• What kinds of businesses and programs will make a more vibrant Delridge?
• What are our largest community concerns and how can they be addressed?

“Delridge” is defined as zip codes 98106 and 98126 and goes from So. Spokane Street all the way south to SW Roxbury Street, from South Seattle Community College to the east to 35th Avenue SW to the west.

Conley Kirschner, a volunteer for American Lung Association, is here to tell us some things about chemicals in our home. He stresses specifically allergies and asthma, their causes, and how to do healthy cleaning to get rid of dust and pet hair and other issues that effect air quality. Cleaning fluids like bleach and ammonia can be very bad to use. Ordinary household cleaning doesn’t require such strong chemicals. He passed out a “green cleaning recipes” handout. I understand he will be giving a cleaning demonstration and then giving away these products to the attendees of the meeting. (Baking soda, vinegar, Borax (Bon Ami)).

Some of the biggest keys to whether something is a healthy green cleaner is either lack of odor and cost. Most natural cleaning products cost a LOT less than name brand products. Those name-brand cleaning products also have a lot of warnings on the label. This is an environmental justice issue – immigrant families who speak English as a second language (if at all) are unable to read and/or fully comprehend the warning labels on cleaning products. They often buy expensive products because they saw advertising on TV and believing that product to be “the American way” may actually be harming themselves and their children because they are unaware of the many dangerous things that can happen when using these products in the home.

This was a rich agenda this evening and I saw many new neighbor faces here (maybe they came because of my email blast this morning?) My favorite parts of our neighborhood meetings are the food (the Somali samosas always burn my mouth but I love them) and the translation to Cambodian and Vietnamese just washes over me in a soothing way. The meetings take longer because of the translation, but I enjoy the entire experience every time.

Biggest tip of this evening – that caused quite a stir in the room – was that the CFL squiggly light bulbs (that were also handed out for free) can NOT be put in the garbage can. They need to be recycled at the library or Home Depot. Obviously we are still not talking about this enough with our friends and neighbhors. These light bulbs often last up to 10 years. But when they do finally go, they must be treated as hazardous waste because of the mercury in the bulb.

The next HPNA meeting will be on June 11th. There will be elections for 3 Trustee positions. If you are interested in being more involved in the High Point neighborhood, please contact Andrew Mead, current Association President, at mandrewmead@gmail.com

I tried to volunteer for this event but it took a long time to get a meeting with the naturalist in charge and she didn’t seem very open to my help once I finally did. I can’t seem to shake my failed attempt in trying to volunteer for an event that so closely matches my training and experience at a place that I love dearly. Apparently they don’t need the help of another Native Plant Steward and Certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat builder. I guess I will get over it eventually.

I’ve lived near and loved Camp Long for almost 12 years. In fact, when my then-fiance (now husband) and I looked at an apartment on SW Holden Street we stumbled in to Camp Long looking for a place to sit and talk. We then found Schurman Rock and this is where we made the decision to rent the new townhouse (in 1997) and move to West Seattle. Now we would never leave, and actually live in the neighborhood adjacent to the park.

Once you visit Camp Long and experience it you will understand why I wanted to be involved in this event. It is just the right training for people who are interested in turning their backyard into a habitat for wildlife.

This four-part backyard-wildlife workshop will show you how to:
~ attract birds and other wildlife
~care for native plants
~conserve water
~manage your yard without chemicals and pesticides

Classes take place 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 and March 24, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. March 28. Cost is $75, or $140 for couples. You can register by phone at 206-548-2500, ext. 1516, or go to http://www.zoo.org/educate/adult/workshops.html.

Camp Long is convenient to all points just across the West Seattle Bridge. At the top of the bridge take a left on 35th Avenue SW (first light), go up a really steep hill an after it flattens out look for the green square signs that read “Camp Long”. It will be on your left. The address is 5200 35th Avenue SW.

Learn lots!

P-Patch gardeners who already have their spots reserved for this year are in a good position. If you are thinking of growing some of your own food this year, you might want to check to see if your local P-Patch has space. I will be growing in pots on my deck (faces north – salad and other greens) and front porch (faces south – strawberries, tomatoes, lemon and lime) again this year. I may just convert some of my ornamental pots to vegetable… I am waiting for the High Point P-Patch to open an ADA gardening space. No sign of construction yet (I know, it is still “winter” even though it is March).

Don’t forget your local farmers market is also a great source of affordable organic vegetables and fruit. If you focus on buying only what you can eat and eliminate wasted food, you can also save money. This is my personal focus this year – eat what I buy. Many vendors have starts already at their stalls. Not as cheap as seeds, but if you didn’t plan very well you can still “grow your own” this year.

A blip from today’s Seattle Times

Seed sales are up 20 to 30 percent at wholesalers such as Irish Eyes Garden Seeds in Ellensburg because of the bad economy and worries about genetically modified crops. Burpee, the world’s largest seed company, says it’s selling thousands of a $10 “Money Garden” package that it says will grow $650 worth of vegetables.

Read Seed companies have a bumper crop of customers
Read How to grow potatoes at home

“Recreating Community in Our Day” Series

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LIVE: I am holding an open house  at my "traditional home" listing in Upper Rainier Beach. After this morning’s snow, the sky cleared and I loaded up the dog and some of my signs and headed over. I’ve been promoting this open since Friday via NWMLS, Craigslist, my blog and its RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook. The marketing I have at postlets.com for 10246 62nd Ave So, automatically syndicates to a number of other sites including Google Base, Zillow, Oodle, Backpage (I have received an email inquiry from someone who saw my ad at this site), HotPads, Vast, Trulia, Enormo, DotHomes, and FrontDoor among "Others".

Once I arrived and unloaded my bags I turned up the heat (I keep it at 63 degrees during showing hours, but when I am here I turn it up to 67), swept the floor, turned on lights and lit candles, made sure the Aerobed was fully inflated, and put a chicken pot pie in the oven. A local broker toured the house and I answered questions with broom in hand. And then I settled onto the loveseat with Sophia and instead of getting out a magazine like a usually do I broke out my new netbook and using my pocket PC as a wireless hub, connected to the Internet to WORK.

I admit, I enjoy doing open houses because it does give me three hours minimum of forced unplugged time to read or talk on the phone. Sometimes people tour the house, some days not a soul comes. But now that I have a way to get online…well, let me qualify that. My mobile device has enabled me for years to use the Internet. But the screen is so small and I am such a fast reader, I just don’t bother because I find it a frustrating experience. But with this new netbook – larger than a handheld mobile device but much smaller than a laptop – I can catch up on blogging, watch a movie over Netflix online, and make an attempt to catch up with the over 500 unread emails in my Inbox (subscriptions only, not personal messages).

My pot pie is out of the oven and cooling. And what am I going to do next? I am going to listen to the  audio from Friday’s keynote speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Built Green Conference. I blogged live for this event but as anyone knows you miss things when you are busy taking notes. So I am going to the site of another local green blogger, onegreener.com to watch the video he streamed live during the event. I haven’t met him, but I want to thank him for doing this so I could get another chance to hear these great jewels of wisdom!

Honey, you were right. I should have gotten a laptop long ago. But I am also glad I waited this long so I could have something small and manageable to enjoy instead of 15 pounds to lug around. I hope you are having a nice day at the race track!

Recent price reduction of $30,000 and the agent interest and showings have been growing over the last 10 days. Nice view of lake from street. Check out the potential this Sunday. If you have “green” questions, now’s the time. Any home can be green!

NOTE: Will be cancelled if snow keeps up.

Remember – Real estate inside the city limits retains value over its suburban counterparts. Aren’t you sick of the commute anyway?

At the Built Green Conference, 3/6/9, 3:15

Jon Alexander, Sunshine Construction LLC
Ben Kaufman, GreenWorks Realty
Terry Phelan, Living Shelter
Joanie Parsons, Parsons PR.

The tide has turned. For many years green building has grown slowly. Two years ago awareness of global warming reached a tipping point, and with that the interest in green building significantly increased. We in the green building field are now in the midst of an enormous opportunity to rapidly grow green building in a powerful and sustainable way.

This highly participatory workshop is designed to support breakthrough thinking and collective action to take advantage of this opportunity. This workshop will offer cresting wave information and provide a facilitated environment to support and enable the masters of green building to exchange ideas and strengthen their networks.

This is a "participatory workshop" so  I do not know how much reporting I will b able to do. Looks like there will be a small group. There are 5 concurretn sessions running right now and it is difficult to decide which one to go to. Well, not too hard for me – my boker is one of the panel members. –

We went around the room and each introduced ourselves – there are a lot of builders here. Also someone from the City of Seattle trying to make the Green Building Council work, someone from ecoHaus, ReStore, Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, and someone from Spokane who built the first 5 star home in Spokane under the Built green program.

West Coast Green web  site under Jon Alexander there are a ton of interviews of people who have been involved in green building. Over 400 years of combined green building experience in this group.

3/8/9 Update We broke into small groups and each had about 5 minutes to talk and explain any difficulties we faced in growing our businesses and suggested what might be next steps that we might take. Members in our group ,made additional suggestions. As a group we then decided on three major themes of challenges we faced, wrote them on a big sticky and then the entire session posted their issues and most all fell in three categories. Rather than reporting what I remember I will wait for the notes to be emailed to me from the panel and then will post a follow up with that information, since it was quite profound.

Ann Griffin, Earth Advantage Institute
Ben Kaufman, GreenWorks Realty
Sterling Hamilton, Hamilton Investments, LLC

This is live blogging from the Built Green Conference in Seattle today.

The Green Building Valuation Initiative

Definition of Comparable Sales 
Date of Sale
Location
Age
Size
Quality
Value
Not "green"

Homes built in 2006-2007
Seattle – 47% of homes below $400k, 43% sold for more than $500k
Portland – 43% below $400k, 24% between $400-500k

Seattle Metro Results
68 subject props, 207 comps
Price premium of 9.6%
Sq ft oremium avg $20
Certified homes on market for 38% more time

Consumer Survey
90% consumers would choose a certified home again
80% reported that they would pay up to 5% more in order to move into a sustainable home.

Ben Kaufman is presenting the recently released Seattle area study for traditional and green home sales. Please refer to the ECert Report on the GreenWorks Realty web site. Stock market fluctuations in 2007 and 2008 directly affected home sales (as seen in the study).

Overall market share of green homes is building over time, even with the drop in price and sales we have seen in recent economic times. Green homes may be 23% smaller in sq ft, but they still sell for 3% more.

He notes that in areas outside of Seattle, where there may not be such a strong building program, builders may be losing value at the point of sale if they do not educate their buyers as to the benefits of the green features in the home for sale.

Sterling Hamilton’s information is from the tax assessor.
His findings for East King County don’t necessarily show a premium for certified homes. The difference in value is balanced by the idea of value of absolute price vs the value over time. As we went from a boom market (2006) to a bust market (3007) then you see an increase for certified homes vs. uncertified. He pointed out that the eastside market is made up of a lot of custom homes, not all spec homes by large builders.

In the Seattle townhome market, homes built 2004-2008, certified vs uncertified. Example: in 2004, average price is $4for uncertified and $433k. By 2997, $470k average price for homes and negative appreciation for noncertified homes.

Sterling reminds us that it is not just about sustaining the environment, it is also about sustaining value – and they are not necessarily in conflict with each other.

During Q&A;, Ben pointed out that what builders had been doing is just building bigger and bigger homes with green features and the homes were more and more expensive. And buyers said umm, I don’t think so. Maybe you need to meet the same price point and make the homes smaller. I personally can speak to living in a "smaller" than average home. My townhome (3 star Built Green in High Point) is 1,681 sq ft per plan, and the design is so smart and efficient we are able to use all of the space to our best advantage and live quite comfortably in that amount of space. I previously lived in an older home of the same square footage but not all of it was usable and comfortable space. i actually now have more home to  live in than I used to.

Sterking’s email address: srhamil@gmail.com