U r b a n T r e k k e r

Portland's Greenways

When you watch this short documentary, you'd think that this looks like in Denmark. The truth is, it's not. It's the city of Portland, Oregon. If they can do it, other cities can do it, too. 

What do you think?

Transportation planners in Portland, Oregon are taking their famous bicycle boulevards to the next level. By adding more routes and stepping up the traffic calming treatments, the city is not only making these streets more attractive and usable for cyclists, but also for pedestrians, runners, children, and anyone else who gets around under their own power.

These next-generation facilities have been christened “Neighborhood Greenways,” and by 2015, over 80 percent of all Portlanders will live within half a mile of one. The city is counting on these re-engineered streets to reach its goal of increasing bicycle mode share from eight percent to 25 percent by 2030.

via Streetfilms

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Subaru's Sustainable Drive

via images.businessweek.com

Who knew? All these years, we heard the success of Toyota. But Subaru we hardly hear anything about their success and how they embrace sustainability. In a nutshell, Subaru has zero layoffs (despite recession), zero paycuts and zero waste. Sustainability must be good for business.

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Harry Gray House

Harry W. Gray was born into slavery in 1852 at Arlington House, an estate overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria. His house is a designated Arlington County landmark. 

 

 

A little bit of history of the house

The Harry W. Gray House, located at 1005 South Quinn Street in Arlington, Virginia was constructed  in 1881  in  the  Italianate style.  The  masonry dwelling,  constructed of  five-course American-bond brick, presents a rectangular  footprint  and freestanding  rowhouse  form typical of  urban  settings.  Standing two stories in  height, the three-bay-wide dwelling, which faces north,  sits on a solid brick foundation.  Capped by  a standing-seam metal shallow-pitched shed  roof, the  dwelling  also  features 212  wood  windows, two interior-end brick chimneys with corbeled caps,  and  a  full-width  one-story porch,  which  stretches across the faqade. A highly decorative Italianate-style entablature caps the facade.  A small wood-frame porch on the southeast comer of  the L-shaped dwelling was enclosed circa 1960. The  dwelling  is  located  in  Gray's  Subdivision  of   the  Arlington View neighborhood, a  middle-class community with  an  historically African-American heritage.  The  Harry  W.  Gray  House  is located  on  a 0129-acre  sloping lot with a grassy yard, brick driveway,  and  landscaping.  A  wooden  fence  partially encloses  the property.  A  small,  non-historic shed is located  on the northwest  comer  of the  sit.  The property is in  excellent condition and has had little exterior alteration since its construction. 

via Arlington County.

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Quote of the Day

"Kuleana."

A Hawaiian word for 'the responsibility of taking care of resources not only for the present, but for the next seven generations,' read at Greenversations story on Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Hawaiian culture is based upon the concept of resource management. 

 

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Kick-off Ecotwist Radio

President Obama announced that tomorrow, November 19, 2010, is as National's Entrepreneurs' Day in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Each November, GEW connects people everywhere in the world through activities to help them unleashed their idea by exploring their potential as self-starters and innovators. 

I've been kicking around with the idea of hosting an educational radio show on business and sustainability for a while. So today is the day. The kick-off of my show, Ecotwist.

My first guest is Andy Shallal, an Iraqi American, who is an activist, artist and restauranter. Andy is a successful entrepreneur. His flagship restaurant, Busboys and Poets, has been a success from the opening. He is someone who is recipient of multiple awards on sustainability, activism and business. I met Andy a while back in the summer through a networking group, Net Impact. NI hosted their event at his restaurant. So after the event, I approached Andy to be on my show, then still in the thinking process. 

Busboys and Poets is a local DC restaurant chain. The restaurant chain is an example of good business practice of the triple bottom line - people, planet and profit. It's a certified B Corporation. They have a number of sustainability initiatives in place, i.e. uses renewable energy via wind energy, recycle their oil for biofuel, uses 100% recycled products, copy paper, carry-out items, serves sustainable seafood. And believes that 'transparency is an important component of their environmental agenda.'

If you happen to be around, you can listen via your browser at http://blogtalkradio.com/ecotwist. You can also join the conversation at 323-693-3030. 

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Green Building Makes Dollars and Sense

by: Guest blogger

Let’s start with some facts: On average, incorporating green building practices into a new building will increase upfront costs by 2%. Green building practices are shown conservatively to yield savings 10x the amount of the initial investment assuming a 20 year building lifecycle. See 134 page report The Cost and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings.

Now for some math: If you build a $300,000 home, you could make it green for an initial investment of $6,000. $6,000 x 10 = $60,000 over 20 years. $60,000/20 = $3,000 in the first year. That’s 1/2 the initial investment.

Some notes about the above numbers: Those figures do not include other proven correlated effects such as comfort, health, and productivity benefits. Some of you financial whizzes out there may also say “What about the discount rate? What is the Net Present Value of that $60,000?” Unlike future cash flows you might see in an annuity, these figures are based on monthly savings on water, energy, waste, etc. I have made the reasonable assumption that theses costs will grow at minimum by our inflation rate though I think it more likely that energy costs will outpace inflation possibly yielding more than a $60,000 saving. The initial study was conducted in California in 2003.

Now for the commentary: Green building practices don’t care where you fall on political spectrum; they are simply more efficient with your resources. Despite the obvious benefits only 17% of new homes built in 2007 were even energy star compliant according to USA Today. So the real question is why aren’t more people building green? Hoffman and Henn proposed that “presumed associations” and the “mythical fixed-pie” are to blame and I would tend to agree with them. Moreover these issues extend beyond homebuyers to all people involved the homebuilding process from real estate agents to contractors.

Presumed associations are a proven tendency among people to recall likely events more than unlikely events. Simply put, people remember the hippie movement in the 1970s with the ugly homes with weird building materials and naturally assume that the green alternative is similar and undesirable.

The mythical fixed-pie is another proven tendency among people to believe that because something is better it automatically must have a disadvantage to accompany it. Essentially, people think that because green is desirable and better for the environment that they will bear the cost of that benefit. As shown above that clearly isn’t the case.

So what do we do? People in general and people involved in the homebuilding process especially have a responsibility to educate themselves on the green (sustainable) building practices. This post isn’t meant to be a manifesto for world change but at the very least it should challenge some of the preconceived notions that we have when it comes to home buying , building, and improving.

//

Michael Little is an MBA, CFA, CDPE and real estate agent in the Minneapolis area and owner of the Michael Little Housing Group a group dedicated to honesty and integrity in real estate. You can visit his website to learn more at Minneapolis homes for sale.

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Solar, Solar Everywhere.. at Google Campus

Don't know if you have seen this aerial view of Google campus yet. You see solar panels all over the rooftops. Pretty amazing. 

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Food and Health Related Costs of Climate Change

The insurance industry is aware of the costs of climate change. After all, they're in the business of insuring potential climate related damages. Under the scenario of German Institute for Economic Research, depending on when effective climate related policies are implemented, the damages could be worth up to $20 trillion by year 2100 if nothing is being implemented. Okay 2100 seems like a long time. You and I might probably not going to be around anymore, however, our kids, grandkids, and great-great grandkids - gonna be around - to witness the long-term implications of climate change, if we do nothing. Now.

The potential damages will be close to home, when it's related to health and food security. So, take a look at the few images below, how it's going to costs us, if we do nothing.

Potential climate change impacts with temperature change

Falling rice productions

Potential health impacts of climate change

[via Allianz Group]

For more details, 

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The Largest Non-Government Green Roof in Washington DC

Sometime last week I was invited to attend the celebration for the completion of the third largest scale of green roof in the district with 27,750 sq. ft - which is the largest "non-government" green roof installation in the city!, according to DDOE official - sitting atop the roof of World Wildlife Foundation headquarters in Northwest DC. The roof holds 11 types of sedum - 53,568 plugs - all sourced locally from Knoll Farms in Street, Maryland. The project took 2 years from consideration to completion. 

The new roof reduces stress in the city sewer infrastructure and reduces combined sewer overflows into the Potomac, Anacostia and Rock Creek. WWF's green roof is partially funded by American Recovery & Reinvestment Act via Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership that help funded 20% of the construction. 

EPA have awarded the District Department of Environment (DDOE) and DC Water more than $40 million in Recovery Act fund, for rebuilding portions of the District's drinking water, and wastewater infrastructure and controlling stormwater run-off. The District government is then used $14M of these funds to fund 22 green projects, to improve local and regional water quality. 

 

image: World Wildlife Foundation

"DDOE appreciates the opportunity that the Recovery Act is providing for us to put people back to work building green roofs, restoring tree canopies, planting more trees and other projects that benefit our economy, our environment and quality of life here in the District," said DDOE Acting Director Christophe Tulou. "Investing in projects such as the roof on this building helps us to protect our water quality and become a greener city." 

The District's target is to have 1.3 million sq. ft. green roofs in the District by 2012. 

DC water is directly related to green roof project. Green roofs hold and delay rainfall, which effectively preventing rainwater from becoming stormwater and reducing combined sewer overflow (CSO's) events. CSO's mean that sewage and stormwater flow untreated into the District's creeks and rivers. In addition, green roofs filter air pollutants from the rainwater and save energy in buildings by reducing heating and cooling costs. 

Additional bonus for green roofs, is this: Besides the aesthetic value, it provides habitat for many species. So, it's good for the biodiversity.

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Please Vote for Urban Trekker

Dear blog readers,

This blog has been nominated as one of "People's Choice Best Real Estate Blog Award" sponsored by Zillow. Voting ends at noon (PDT) August 25, 2010.

It would be an honor for me to have your vote. (Please vote on #3> metrodchomes,typepad.com)

Thank you.

- Dewita

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