The North Bay counties of Marin, Napa and Sonoma are known worldwide for their natural beauty. With breathtaking redwood forests, spectacular coastlines, lush open space and gorgeous vineyard valleys, it’s no wonder that residents want to preserve that beauty for future generations. The policies and practices of nearby uber eco-conscious cities San Francisco and Berkeley, and our own conscientious communities like Bolinas, Fairfax, Sebastopol and Guerneville, illustrate how sustainable living is woven into the fabric of our culture and more than just a fad.

Sure, it’s cool to drive a Prius (and chances are you’ll park next to an identical one in the Whole Foods parking lot), but for those who are serious about green living and preserving the environment, the North Bay is ripe with resources. Solar powered pizza parlors, a bounty of organic foods, green contractors and landscape architects, solar hybrid busses, green MBA’s, natural and organic gifts, green career counselors – all these and more allow us in the North Bay to live green from head to toe and from roof to floor.

Green Guides 

SF Green (Green Guide from the SF Chronicle):

Marin Green Guide (sponsored by the Marin County Department of Public Works)

Green Living Tips (sponsored by the County of Marin)

Living Green (Santa Rosa Press Democrat blog) 

Green at Home

Build It Green

Energy Star

Household Emissions Calculator

PG&E ClimateSmart Program

Living Green

Bay Area Green Business Program

Clean Green Napa

EcoBroker

EcoNow Networking Events

Environmental Education Coalition of Napa County

Green Chamber of Commerce

Marin County Sustainability Team

Marin Organic

Marin County Bicycle Coalition

Marin County Parks & Open Space

Napa Valley Sustainability

Recipe for Sustainability

Sonoma County Energy and Sustainability Division

Sonoma County Energy Independence Program

Sustainable Napa County

Sustainable Sonoma County

Walk Score

Green Events

Earth Day Napa County

Green Wine Summit

Harmony Festival

Sustainable Enterprise Conference

West Coast Green Conference

Follow along as the full list unfolds – 100 Reasons Why We Love Where We Live

Follow the reasons on Facebook

Posted by:  Frank Howard Allen Realtors

While more and more people are becoming conscious of the “Green” movement and trying to be more energy-efficient, the best incentive for many to go green is saving money! There was a great article in the San Jose Mercury News with four great ways to go green and save money. To read the full story, click here.

To summarize, here are their four key tips:

Tip One – Get Rid Of The Vampires!

This refers to appliances that suck energy when not in use. The biggest culpits are small appliances like coffee makers, TVs, laptops, cell phone charges, fans, and hairdryers. You can cut back on the vampires by unplugging them after every use or installing a central power strip to easily turn off all of them at one time. The estimated savings has the potential of $200 a year on an annual basis.

Tip Two – Turn Down Your Water Heater

Water heaters can account for between 14-25% of your total energy costs in a given month. The preset of most water heaters from the factory is about 140 degrees, which isn’t necessary for most washing machines and dishwashers. Most clothing items wash well in warm or cold water. Also think about buying a front loader next time, which will cut down on water and drying times.

Tip Three – Change Your Light Bulbs

You are eventually going to have to switch to florescent bulbs when the U.S. phases out incandescent bulbs. According to Energy Star, switching to florescent lights will save the U.S. about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevents 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas.

Tip Four – Heating and Cooling

On average, about 43% of your total energy bill each month is for heating and cooling. Buying a “set-back” thermostat is a good investment as it can automatically turn down you heat in the evening while you are in bed, when you go to work in the morning, and when you are not utilizing the home. Also, clean and replace your filter on a monthly basis and change out the heater if it’s been over 10 years since you bought the last one, as they are much more energy-efficient these days. During the heating season, keep your south window blinds open to allow the sun to heat the home, and in the summer, do the opposite; keep your blinds closed to keep the sun from heating the house when it’s sunny and warm outside.

These are just a few easy things you can do around the house to save money and help protect the environment.

Do you know of other good ways to cut down on energy costs? Please share them with me in the comments.

Posted by:  Rick Smith

There are always a lot of questions about remodeling and trying to increase the value of one’s home.

Most of the time, depending on the work you do, the average amount most people recoup is around 75% of the total cost of the remodel. You may ask why bother, but consider this: first, you will enjoy your home more, and second, when you do get ready to sell, if you haven’t remodeled and updated, you may have a difficult time finding a buyer as competing, remodeled homes may be more attractive and appealing. So in that case, remodeling or making improvements will definitely help sell your home.

I ran across an article recently from the San Francisco Chronicle about increasing the value of your home by installing solar panels.

You can read the full report here.

To summarize, the article talks about the sales of 2,000 homes sold between 2000 to 2009, and what value they recouped by installing solar panels. The data reveals that a typical home generally sells for an additional $17,000 above the cost of a comparable home. That’s in addition to saving on their electricity bills. If there are two comparable homes out there, Buyers are choosing the ones with solar panels, as they understand the long run benefits as fuel and electricity costs continue to climb. I think as people see fuel costs rise, they are more cognizant and recognize that fuel costs are never really going to go down in any significant way, and will most likely continue to climb.

Solar is a way of the future, and making this investment could really be worth a homeowner’s time and money, in both the short run by saving on electricity, and when it comes time to sell.

Posted by:  Rick Smith

In previous posts, we talked about our wonderful local harvest (Reason #33) and delicious California wines (Reason #48) as reasons why we love living in the North Bay. We truly are spoiled here with the variety, quantity, and quality of the food available to us.

The North Bay is a foodie’s heaven - thanks in great deal to the amazing organic and agricultural communities that have their roots here. The picturesque North Bay landscape is home to over 50 certified organic operations, with many located in the bucolic communities of West Marin such as Pt. Reyes, Marshall and Inverness. Many models for sustainable farming, these innovative local purveyors produce everything from exquisite ice creams to award-winning cheeses to robust olive oils to delicious sea-sweet oysters.

A foodie’s heaven – and a Mecca for those into the organic food movement. In fact, Marin has been called the “hub of the organic movement” and became internationally known as a leader in organic farming when Britain’s Prince Charles visited Pt. Reyes and Bolinas in 2005 to learn about sustainable agriculture. The royal visit was organized by Marin Organic, an association of organic producers that work collaboratively to support agriculture in Marin with the goal of preserving county farmland and creating the first all-organic county in the nation. They have also taken on the battle of how to provide healthy and nutritious lunches to school-aged children by organizing a school lunch program that feeds organic, locally-grown foods to 10,000 students from more than half of Marin’s schools. (For a fascinating, eye-opening piece on eating green, the food movement and Marin Organic, click here.)

Looking for even healthier organic options? Marin offers dozens of ways to satisfy that need, including farmers’ markets, organic food box deliveries, organic grocery stores (Good Earth), and the many restaurants/bakeries/cafes and eateries (Fairfax Scoop – yum!).

For many, organic is not just a label, but a way of life – one that is valued here in the North Bay and enriches our health, lifestyle and economy.

Follow along as the full list unfolds – 100 Reasons Why We Love Where We Live

Follow the reasons on Facebook 

Posted by:  Frank Howard Allen Realtors

Many times I am often asked, “Will Green features pay off when you are selling your home?”

With all things being equal, the answer is: “If buyers have a choice between a house with low water and energy costs and one where the costs are high, they will probably choose the home with lower operating expenses.”

Most of my buyers today are pretty savvy about a lot of the features of energy efficiency and noise reduction, and most of my buyers generally take into consideration the cost of installing double pane windows versus buying a home that already has them. Installation for double pane windows can be expensive, so the ones that already have them definitely have an attractive selling feature. Let’s face it: homes in the Bay Area are expensive compared to homes in other parts of the country. So, if the buyers know there may have to be an additional outlay of money down the line, they will try to avoid it. On average replacing windows returned more than 75% of the total cost over the long run. Combine that with possible incentives, lower energy costs, and the appeal for when you sell, and it’s almost a no brainer.

Consider:

• A tight house prevents heat loss. Utility companies are are now offering rebates for installing weather stripping around windows, doors, vents, cables, and electrical outlets.
• Using a programmable thermostat and setting it to reduce output when no one is there or when you are sleeping will save another $100 or more per year.
• When you buy a new furnace or new appliances, buy ENERGY STAR appliances that meet high-level energy efficiency. Depending on what you buy, the government will rebate up to 30% of the cost of the furnace or appliance this year, as long as you purchase by December 31, 2010, as part of the Federal Tax Credits for Consumer Energy Efficiency.
• Another inexpensive way to save money is by changing light bulbs to fluorescent from incandescent. And, as I heard from Consumer Reports the other day, the trend towards LCD lighting, which will give you a brighter, more natural light at a lower cost, is on the way.

So as you think about selling or buying your new home, you should think about these new incentives. It’s apparent that energy costs aren’t going down anytime soon, and with the tragic accident that just happened in San Bruno, someone will have to pay for the expense of rebuilding and examining all the gas lines for any additional problems. Something tells me it won’t be just PG&E: they are bound to pass the costs on to the consumer in the form of higher energy costs.

As the Nike commercial says, “Just Do It.” In the long run you will be glad you did for both the sake of your home and the reduction of greenhouse gases in the future.

Posted by:  Rick Smith

Last month I wrote about building a certified LEED Green home. Below are just a few of the “green” building components that we implemented:

Oak flooring from dead oak trees – we found, thanks to our architect, Kurt Gettman, beautiful 5” wide plank oak flooring from trees that had already expired, as opposed to using flooring from live oaks. They also cost significantly less than other eco friendly flooring I researched from other sources.

Cement Floors – Since we poured a cement slab on the lower level of our home, we simply stained and polished the floor. Not having to buy another flooring source saves on costs and additional flooring waste.

Fly Ash – Fly ash is the non-combustible by-product of burning coal. It is also becoming a major component of concrete. Using fly ash conserves natural resources previously used to produce concrete and also helps to eliminate landfill disposal of ash products from coal burning plants.

Cement Siding by JamesHardie – This was one component I was really worried about. I was so concerned that our home would be covered in this terrible, fake looking siding. But I have to say, I really like it. It is also fire resistant and lasts at least twice as long as traditional wood siding. Using cement siding helps the environment in two ways; It lasts longer than wood siding and it significantly reduces the use of precious natural wood sources. This particular siding comes in many forms (shingles, clap board, board & batten and on & on).

Double paned glass – Simply installing double paned windows and doors can cut your utility costs significantly.

Solar Energy – This is our next phase. We plan to add solar panels to our roof in the next couple of months, which will practically eliminate our energy bills during the spring through fall months. We will have some minimal costs during the winter. While the quote to add solar is close to $22,000, with the state and federal rebates the costs will come to approximately $15,000.

Tankless Water Heater – manufacturers claim that tankless water heaters can reduce your energy consumption for hot water by almost 50%.

There are many ways to implement green components to your remodel or if you are building a new home. Above are just a few practices. Certainly feel free to contact me should you have any questions about going green.

Posted by:Adrienne Murphy

More and more REALTORS^® are getting their Eco Green Certification these days. This certification is intended to educate REALTORS^® on green building practices and to encourage agents to create relationships with green building vendors, who in turn they can recommend to their clients. While I do not yet have that certification, I feel like I have earned one having just built a LEED Certified Platinum level green home in Mill Valley, CA.

You might ask what LEED is and its associated rating system. LEED stands for the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. LEED has developed what they call a “Green Building Rating System”.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, “LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.” There are several levels of LEED building design & guidelines: silver, gold & platinum – the highest level. It works like a point system. You receive points for certain green components that are implemented into your construction project. They all add up to the different levels of the rating system.

Our architect, Kurt Gettman of Gettman-Schow Architecture in San Rafael, CA is an Eco Green Certified Architect, which was one of the reasons we chose him. Kurt, as a side note, was also really great to work with. He listened to our requirements. He did not push his architectural style. He was responsive, reasonably priced and knew the local city building/planning processes inside and out. I believe Kurt’s design and presentation approach played a large part in our unanimous approval by the City of Mill Valley Planning Commission the first time around. Kurt explained to us early on in the process that Mill Valley would require us to “go green” as a condition of approval for our remodeling project. While we were concerned that this may increase our building costs, we completely embraced this requirement as doing our part for the environment. I was also concerned that going green would require us to make compromises on the style of our home. In the end, I don’t think we spent much more and perhaps even saved money on certain aspects of the house. We are also very pleased with the architectural style of our home, inside and out. The most important point to remember is we now have an energy efficient home. We are saving on energy costs moving forward and helping out the environment.

Stay tuned for many of the green building practices and components you can implement in your new home construction or remodeling project.

Posted by:Adrienne Murphy