Archive for the ‘Green Building’ Category

buildgreenworld Attends Living Future 2009 in Portland, Oregon

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

living-future-2009buildgreenworld Participates in the World’s Foremost Cutting-Edge Green Building Event

Sending our green building “troops” from San Diego to Portland, Oregon, members of buildgreenworld are currently attending the world’s “deepest-green” green building event.  The 3rd annual Living Future conference is not necessarily for individuals who merely want to dabble or are just curious about green building.  Living Future is specifically designed for professionals who, as the Living Future organization claims, want to experience “kinetic dialogue and unbridled imagination to catalyze revolutionary change.”  With such transformative intent and energy geared to exponentially transform the green building market how the heck can buildgreenworld not be there???

Living Future is known as the “unconference” of green building.  We truly love attending the annual Green Build convention which last November took place in beautiful Boston.  Green Build is always rich in experts, manufacturers, seminars and is a networking bonanza, no doubt.  No knocking the “big momma” of green conferences at all.  But Living Future is a unique and completely different animal in the budding world of green building conferences.

Portland - A leader in urban sustainability

Portland - A leader in urban sustainability

Living Future prides itself on providing a completely different way of perceiving the built environment and taking concrete steps and action to make transformative ideas actually materialize through leadership, new tools, new perspectives and increased professional collaboration.  Organized by leaders in the green building world from the Cascadia Region Green Building Chapter, Living Future specifically claims that the conference will not be a bunch of “talking heads.”  In fact conference sessions are designed to be interactive and experiential, “fostering lively discussions and collaborative solutions to creating truly sustainable communities.”

The keynote speaker last year was Paul Hawken, a personal mentor for the buildgreenworld crew that we look up to and aspire to follow in his incredibly large yet subtle footsteps.  This year’s speaker, Janine Benyus, is equally transformative in the sustainability world, especially with her cutting-edge work in Biomimicry.

Stay tuned as we continue to report to you on the events at this empowering and conscious-shifting event…

San Diego County Launches “Go Solar…” Program with Attractive Loans for Green Energy Improvements

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Go Solar...San Diego County!

Keeping up with the City of San Diego’s recent initiatives to encourage homeowners and businesses to install green, renewable energy products such as photovoltaics, the County of San Diego is following in the Finest City in America’s footsteps.  San Diego County has just announced that it is partnering up with the private sector to offer property owners both information and access to a variety of commercial banks willing to make loans to qualified borrowers.  This effort, the County claims, is for those “who are interested in making energy efficient and/or solar energy property improvement in an effort to promote regional energy independence.”

So how attractive are the loan rates one might ask?   Well, the County’s “Go Solar” website gives the disclaimer that “the details of individual loan programs available will vary based on the participating bank and the property owner’s qualifications.”

Here is the 5 step process that the County outlines in order to begin the process:

  1. Review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for more details about the program and how to get started.
  2. Obtain written estimates from a minimum of three licensed contractors.
  3. Contact the commercial banks that have agreed to make funds available to qualified borrowers for making energy efficiency improvements, and apply for a loan.
  4. Apply for any necessary building permits, together with your contractor at your local building or planning office. Residents of the County’s unincorporated areas can contact the County of San Diego Department of Planning and Land Use.
  5. The assessed value of your property will not increase as a result of adding most solar systems, with the exception of swimming pool and hot tub heaters. For more information contact the San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk at (858) 505-6262

Anyone interested in the details of the program can to go the Go Solar website at http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/fg3/gosolarfaq.html.  Its an encouraging beginning…