What if we could cut greenhouse gas emissions, invest in underserved communities, and create thousands of good-paying jobs? Turns out we can by leading water heating into the future. We use a lot of energy on water heating: showers, clothes washers, and dishwashers can account for up to 32% of home energy use. In fact,…
There is work to do if we want to make this a welcoming, inclusive industry. Let's talk about it. We will lead a discussion about the joys that we've experienced in our work and the obstacles that stand in the way of joy. Vulnerability has a place in our work days, and it has a…
The C Street Co-op packs a punch: Affordable Housing at 60% AMI? Check. Affordable homeownership? Check. Permanently affordable homeownership? Check. Net Zero Energy? Neighborhood walkability? And all this with about 10% of the subsidy required by typical affordable housing apartment buildings? Check, check, and check. Recently completed in Springfield, Oregon, the C Street Co-op has…
This is a story about a family’s determination to effect a cleaner future by building a certified passive house – a giant collection of the very big and very small choices that many owners, architects, and builders made this year, this week, today. From the owners’ perspective, the arrival of their daughter brought them greater…
My Green Roof 16 years later and I am still hanging in there with it I was on a team that proposed a green roof at the Department of Interior headquarters. I read about green roofs and their benefits in slowing down stormwater, extending the life of roofs, and more. I saw the green…
Concrete is the worlds second most used material behind water and this material alone accounts for almost 8% of the entire world's GHG emissions. This is even before considering the impacts the raw materials such as sand have to ecosystems and even crime (!) in certain parts of the world. There are ample reasons to…
Above all else, this is the story of how to do what you can, where you can, when you can. Being a good environmental neighbor to our human and non-human neighbors isn't about being perfect, but it is about making it better than you found it as much as you reasonably can. Polluted runoff is…
This home is a triumph in several respects. It represents the first time that a straw bale project has been permitted in the Portland area under the prescriptive load bearing straw bale code. So, this project has introduced the prescriptive bale approach to the Portland region, helping builders, funders, code officials, and local residents to…
Cities continue to wrestle with solutions to the ballooning cost of housing. Over the past couple of years, policies have been enacted, and in some respects the building code community has responded with positive accommodations to help builders meet the demand for housing, in the form of ADU/DADUs. The intent is to reduce regulations that…
When a Bainbridge Island client approached her about working on the home they were building to reflect their lifelong passion for art and environmental sustainability, Hoda Sheikh, founder and owner of Lotus landscapes & Arboriculture, took up the challenge of creating a landscape and outdoor living space that could live up to the legacy. Where…
Have you ever taken a plunge into the unknown with little more than determination to see you through? That’s what Mark did when, in the middle of a pandemic, he started a 4-Star Built Green remodel of a unit he planned to sell at McGraw Condominiums in Seattle. The unit was originally built to Seattle…
We have dual climate and affordable housing emergencies bearing down on us as a community and a world. In order to be truly sustainable, our communities must make note of the equitable access to clean, green, affordable housing. Our communities in Redmond and Kirkland are 100% LEED Platinum certified, and yet close to three quarters…