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See his full post here.
The
tours are self-guided and feature over 80 sites across the state. Homeowners, builders and green experts are available to answer
questions about the latest renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency solutions and green building techniques.
Tour dates are October 3, 10 and 17.
Visit the NCSEA website to find a tour and the dates in your local area.
A new study by J.D. Power and Associates indicates that buyers of new homes don't believe their builders told them about many of the green features of their home. Apparently 31% of new-home owners surveyed said they thought their house was environmentally friendly, yet 65% of these said their builder did not identify the home's green features.
According to the survey, "2009 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study," The main reasons homeowners build or buy a green home are to save money on power and heating; to reduce water consumption; and generally to reducing their environmental impact. Basically, if the homes had energy-efficient HVAC systems, lighting, and appliances the owners feel they are "green" homes.
In addition, the study indicates that overall customer satisfaction with new-home builders and new-home quality improved for the second year in a row. In now averages 811 out of a 1,000-point scale compared to 779 for last year. The 2009 study, is based on responses from 26,231 buyers of newly built single-family homes who provided feedback after living in their dwellings for four to 18 months. The study was fielded between March and July 2009.
For builder rankings for all 24 U.S. markets, visit www.jdpower.com/homes.
Pike Research has released a study called "Energy Efficient Retrofits for Commerical and Public Buildings." It shows that the business of greening commercial buildings is booming. This is driven mainly by strong activity in the federal sector. The report predicts growth will continue at least up to 2013, and emphasises that high-performance buildings command premium rental and sales prices.
According to the report, commercial building retrofits range from less than $1 per square foot up to $40 per sf. At the low end owners gain a simple energy efficiency program that can save 10% of their energy costs. At the high end, from $10 to $40 per sf owners can get up to 40% savings on energy costs and also performance enhancement for the occupants.
For more information on the report see Pike Research here.
Nate Kline's post on The Green Economy Post summarizes the many tax credits and incentives available for the installation of a green roof. Several locations including NYC, Chicago, LA, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. Plus, there are proposed programs for Boston and the state of Pennsylvania as well as a Federal bill that proposes a 30% tax credit for green roofs that cover at least 50% of the roof area.
A study by a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, from last year suggests that white roofs across all major cites would curb climate change. See the story here on the Christian Science Monitor.
Clearly, either greater use of both white and green roofs has major benefits and is comparatively inexpensive. Of all the things that can be done with the tops of buildings, it's a shame that black is such a prevalent choice. There are several green roofs here in the Raleigh/Durham area and a few people I know have gone with white for their home roofs. One person I've spoken with has painted black shingles with white acrylic paint and is very happy with that. I'd love to hear from anyone planning a green roof in the area.
I also noticed in Nate's own GreenDldgBlog.com a recent story that neatly lists all the various tax incentives already in place for energy efficiency measures. This is useful for anyone considering energy efficiency renovations.
The N.C. Biotechnology Center (BioTech Center) is starting a $10.4 million addition
to its headquarters in Research Triangle Park, adding 20,000 sf of office and conference space. The expansion is aiming for a LEED Silver certification.
The original 47,000-square-foot center was built to house 50 employees. It's now pushing 65.
Construction is planned to begin in October and is expected to be completed in fall 2010. The job is being managed by Skanska, which also built the Durham Performing Arts Center. The designers are Charlotte architectural firm Perkins+Will, which designed the original building.
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, will be screened on Friday September 11th, 6:30 pm at ERUUF* in Durham.
This award winning film tells the story of how our civilization's addiction to oil puts it on a collision course with geology. Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world's top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion - our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.
The 90 minute documentary is followed by a discussion of its message and what we can do.
Light refreshments are provided.
So come watch the film (again) and engage in some dialog.
see: www.oilcrashmovie.com
*ERUUF is
Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
4907 Garrett Road
Durham, NC 27707
*Photo: Henri Bureau/Sygma/Corbis
The Commission for the Environment will hold its third Orange County
Environmental Summit on Saturday, September 12 from 10 am to 12 noon at
the Education Center for the North Carolina Botanical Garden. The event
is free and open to the public.
The summit will feature keynote speaker Dr. Larry Band, who will discuss storm water sustainability in Orange County watersheds. Dr. Band is the Director of the UNC Institute for the Environment and a professor in the Geography Department. There will also be a panel of experts who will discuss issues pertaining to the quality and quantity of water resources in the County followed by questions from the audience.
Following the summit there will be an optional tour of the Botanical Garden’s brand new education center. This will be the first public event held at the center, which is intended to achieve LEED-Platinum certification.
From The Carrboro Citizen.
