Strings

Transferring Blog

2011-06-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've been fooling around with an idea. Check out my new website and blog.

I'm still waiting on the Secretary of State to become an LLC, but in the meantime there's still plenty to set up!

See you there!

Tapestry

2011-05-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Weekend before last I went to my first Conference of Northern California Handweavers. I took the tapestry class offered by Pam Patrie. To the left are the looms that greeted us all warped and ready to go! The plans she provided for creating your own copper pipe loom can be found by clicking here.

I was definitely the neophyte of the group! My meager exercise in trying out angles and curves was dwarfed by the actual landscapes and complicated patterns of my classmates. Thank heavens it was not a competition! I learned a ton. Enough to realize how much more there is that can't be taught in a weekend. Above to the right you can see the biggest lesson I learned. A wedge weave hem. It keeps my edges straight by allowing some give in the weaving.

Remembering Mary Bowers

2011-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

I never met Mary Bowers when she was alive. She was the previous owner of my loom and equipment. Her name is on everything. Her loom made its way to a second hand store. Sold with it was all her supplies and yarn.

I have decided to use up some of the yarn she left. As I started threading the warp, I realized that the colors matched the seat cushion she made. She liked bright colors. They are not colors I would reach for myself, but I think Mary Bowers has something to teach me.

Free Loom - TAKEN

2011-03-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Update: This loom was claimed on 4/9/11. Thank you!

If you are willing to come pick it up in the south bay area, I'd like to give this floor loom a new home. It's a four harness jack loom with a built in rattle in the back. The brand name tag appears to have fallen off.

I already had my big Gilmore loom when a family friend offered Emily a little loom of her own. That little loom turned out to be a floor loom! I signed up Emily for the beginning weaving class, and she quickly lost interest. It was neat to spend the time with her, but Mom's interests are not daughter's interests.

I don't need two floor looms in my dining room! Leave a comment to discuss picking it up, please!

Doh!

2011-03-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Almost made it! Time to ply the last of the wool I had been spinning.

I seriously thought I had enough green and blue for those two colors to be the only ones on this little box.

I enjoyed spinning the yarn on a drop spindle. It was a color sample pack I picked up somewhere. I would take my drop spindle all over with me and attract attention. People would ask questions, and I'd show them my spinning. They would ask what I was going to make. "Yarn"! It was too scratchy for anything you would wear as a knit, and too little of it for weaving on the loom.

Then I started this little box while waiting for my daughter to get off my warping board. I found the perfect use for my hanging yarn wall decorations! Not sure what I'm going to do with a little yarn basket bag, but it is more compact than skeins on my wall.

Free Twill Sampler Card Booklet

2011-03-13T16:26:00.001-07:00

Beginning Weaving This link will give you the handout for the first floor loom class offered at Custom Handweavers in Mountain View. (Classroom at left.)

Four Shaft Twill Sampler Print this link out on business card paper, and punch holes in the top left hand corner of each card. Put a ring through the holes, and you have made a handy little booklet that is easy to refer to while weaving!

When I started my first weaving class, Henelore Cole, owner of Custom Handweavers in Mountain View, apologized for the old photo copy of a handout that was typed with a typewriter. I figured typing up the document for her in a word processor would help her with a freshened up handout, and I would be able to absorb the information better while typing.

While working the twill sampler on the last page, I got sick of twisting to my side. I took postit notes, and wrote down the treadle numbers for each of the 62 twill patterns. Instead of left to right, I found a vertical listing of the numbers easier to keep track of. I've printed up a few of the business cards in the second link above, and given them to Henelore. She really liked the design. She lets her students use the cards, but she keeps them herself because she found them handy.

I hope you find them handy too!

If you are in the California Bay Area, please consider taking this class or others with Henelore. Her website can be found here.

I Like This Step

2011-02-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Threading through the heddles. It looks confusing and in disarray. It makes knitters run away in fear. It's so organized though! I love this part.

Those sticks in the back are firmly holding the cross. It doesn't matter how much everything else on the ends gets tangled. That cross will always fix it. When I am threading the heddles, I am taking each consecutive string from the cross and placing it through one heddle at a time in a specific pattern. Once done, those sticks holding the cross will no longer be necessary. The heddles will then keep things from getting tangled.

Right now there is no tension. Loops and knots are flopping all over the place. Things look sort of neat on the back beam, but not really lined up. Every string is doing it's own thing, and seems to have no intention of cooperating with the whole in an effort to create something bigger.

Once I am done with this step, a simple pull on the ends will bring everything in order. I could yank if I felt like it. I can be gentle. It doesn't matter. The preparation of this step means that the future tension I create will make every individual string line up neatly and cooperate with me.

String lines up so much more nicely than people. ;-)

Featured Small Business

2011-02-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the image to the left, I don't need any more boat shuttles. However, I could not resist purchasing from KCL Woods today, and purchased the beautiful boat shuttle to the right.

I went to Stiches West today. It was in Santa Clara this year, so I wanted to just go touch all the yummy fibers. I had terrific fun, and could not wipe the smile off my face. No classes. Just a few hours in the marketplace.

While there, I stopped by the booth of Ken and Carol Ledbetter (KCL) and drooled over their boat shuttles. As you can see by the Leclerc shuttle behind it, this bobbin can hold much more yarn than anything else on the market today. I do have one or two 6" bobins, that I constantly load up for large, long, one color production weaves. This new 10" bobbin will enable me to go much longer before I go back to the bobbin winder. And just look at that beautiful burled wood!

Thanks to Carol's guidance, Ken's woodworking talents have been channeled into some terrifically useful tools for fiber artists. By the time I got there, they had long ago run out of their bowls with a notch for balls of yarn. I will soon be ordering a nostepinne from them, I'm certain! The drop spindles, of course stole the show for the most part. There were a heck of a lot more tools for fiber artists at Stitches than they have on their website, so check out their art show schedule, or contact them through their website.

Help me convince Ken that we are willing to pay the astronomical prices he pays for aluminium for those extra large bobbins! As far as I know, he is the last producer of them!

Huckleberry Box Weaving

2011-02-19T17:24:00.000-08:00

My daughter and I are taking a beginning weaving class together. It's her turn to use the warping board, so I have to wait to load up my loom. I need string though! So, I took a little cardboard box, and started wrapping string around it. I'll be using my brightly colored spindle spun wool to do a very simple tapestry weave that will pull off the box to be a little bag.

My daughter was watching me intently and asked if she could have a turn with the box.

...

Sure! Then I can go out and whitewash the fence!

Cotton/Bamboo Twill

2011-02-13T18:33:00.001-08:00

33 inches wide by 5 yards, brown mercerized cotton warp, black bamboo weft.

Still a beginner, but having a blast. I'm not sure what I am going to make out of it. I'm thinking a big bucket purse or two. The end fringe might be a nice touch to a bag. This was my second project on my loom. My fist, a twill sampler helped me choose my favorite twill to play with. I have started a patterns weaving class now, while my daughter is taking the beginning class I took to learn twill.

Career Change

2008-07-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have left Referral Realty and real estate in general to work for Planners Collaborative at NASA Ames Research Center. My title is Project Coordinator/Administrative Assistant for the Human Systems Integration Division. This is a group of scientists that work on making technology work for humans instead of training humans to work around technology. They make our world and some floaty things above our world safer and more intuitive.

I know, I know. This has very little to do with sustainable living. I started this blog to try and mesh my passion with my career. However, Sustainable living is still my passion as my hobby. I intend to continue this blog as a hobby, and I feel this career change will actually make this an easier thing for me to do. My weekends are now free to write articles!

I would like to thank my readers over the last year, and look forward to interacting with them for many more years to come. See you soon!

/Holly

Earth Day Post

2008-04-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have been avoiding this post like the plague. Are there any other emails I can check? Classes to create slides for? Inventory charts? Houses! I need to sell houses! Anything to avoid this subject after all the headache it caused me last time.

I was going to make my Earth Day post on home watering systems to tie in with the Permaculture post, but that will have to wait. The California Association of Realtors put out a call to action against a green housing initiative on Earth Day itself.

“C.A.R. is OPPOSING AB 2678 (Núñez) which among other things, requires that ALL homes and commercial property in California have an energy audit at point-of-sale and that mandatory energy efficiency investments be made. While C.A.R. appreciates the goal of AB 2678 C.A.R strongly opposes the point-of-sale requirements in AB2678 because they fail to achieve the bill’s objectives and, such mandates will further weaken the housing market. If enacted, AB 2678 could add thousands of dollars to the cost of purchasing a home, including up to $400 just to have a home audited.”

Again, I disagree with the political position of the PAC in charge of real estate in California. Again, I feel frustrated that there is no point in voicing such an opinion. I have found nothing online about this bill except what C.A.R.has printed against it, so I find it hard to make an informed decision. Even with only hearing the reasons against it, I am hesitant to become an Orwellian sheep in the matter.

Energy audits are what Ecobrokers are encouraged to try to talk their clients into voluntarily. I have yet to run into one that comes close to $400. We all have classes and discussions as real estate agents on how to talk our clients into spending money to make their house more marketable. Many of these upgrades are simply making your home more energy efficient, like double pane windows, etc. Making such assessments and improvements mandatory would not only make our job easier, it would go a long way to making this world a better place.

Spending money at a point-of-sale may sound unfavorable prima facie, but it is much easier to spend money at that time rather than while someone is already established in a building. Changes need to be made, and such changes will ultimately save money for our clients when they pay less monthly for energy bills.

In the end, I am sure that C.A.R. will get what it wants, so I will continue to encourage you to get energy audits and improvements on your own. In the meantime, I am finding it difficult to juxtapose my profession with my conscience.

Permaculture in Suburbia

2008-03-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

The next time you do yard work, you might want to consider something that takes less time and money to maintain than a lawn. Wouldn't it be nice not to have to mow every week to keep the neighbors happy? Those water bills in the summer can get outrageous. What if you could make your garden maintain itself? You could just come home, pick a few vegetables for dinner on your way in, and have curb appeal that would be the envy of the neighborhood!

In 1959, a scientist in Australia was studying animals browsing for food in a forest and wrote in his journal "I believe that we could build systems that would function [for humans] as well as this one does." Bill Mollison went on to coin the therm permaculture by combining the words permanent and agriculture.

We suburbanites love our lawns. But now that life has gotten more busy, we have started to replace them with rock gardens and cyprus bushes. There is a more aesthetic and productive way to avoid mowing and save water. Read on for tips on how!

Do not fight the weeds. Work with them, then eat them!

According to Penny Livingston of the Permaculture Institute of Northern California, "The most important permaculture tool is a hammock. First relax, observe, and think." The time you spend in your garden should be considering how to make natural systems work for you. Not performing back-breaking labor to fight against those systems.

No need to reinvent the wheel here. The plants, insects and animals in your back yard have had centuries of practice at becoming prolific. How to observe and manipulate their natural tendencies has been well documented by many scientists and gardeners.

Plant communities are a key concept in permaculture. Ordinarily in our fruit and vegetable gardens, we strive to produce a single crop in one place. Then we are constantly pulling weeds to assure that crop is the only plant in the area. Instead, try making sure the "weeds" around your crop are plants you want to use. Then combine plants that work together and compliment each other.

For instance, take a look at your rose bushes from your hammock. What if all that grass you keep yanking from underneath were a crop of chives? Not only would you have something to sprinkle over your next baked potato, the insects that want to eat the aphids will have a place to live, and they will trade nutrients in the soil that prevent black spot and mildew.

There are many other examples of plant communities to consider. Try searching for "companion plants" on the internet or look into some of the suggested reading at the end of this article.

What will the neighbors think if I don't maintain a well manicured lawn?

Take a look at this Mediterranean style yard installed by Midlebrook Gardens in San Jose. “We realize that a client’s property is their most valuable asset” say Alrie Middlebrook. “We spend a lot of time making sure that what we design fits in visually with the property and the neighborhood.”

We live in a Mediterranean climate here in Silicon Valley. Lawns make sense for an Irish shepherd, but not for a Californian programmer. “We make sure to point out to our clients that they are leaders in their neighborhood” says Arlie. She has noticed that her clients tend to be neighborhood trend setters. “After about two years, the yard becomes well established, attracts wildlife, and thrives without pesticides and regular watering. The rest of the neighborhood starts to follow suit.”

Sometimes following the dictates of your climate can look more traditional than a traditional yard.

Some Permaculture Terms and Concepts

Herb Spiral: A gardenting shape that takes advantage of both horizontal and vertical space to make a large number of herbs accessible from one spot. The different slopes create different microclimates suitable for different types of plants. Irrigation can be a fountain like sprinkler at the top, allowing water to spiral downward. Image taken from GardeningTipsNIdeas.

Swale: A trench dug into a slope with a berm on the downhill side. The purpose is to collect rain and create an underground plume of water that plants can tap into throughout the year. This image from LivingInDryden is freshly dug and on a large scale. Eventually plants could grow over it. Smaller swales can be dug in smaller locations.

Annuals Vs. Perennials: I understand if you cannot live without your fresh tomatoes, but for other annuals, look for perennial substitutes. This way you are not replanting and maintaining so much. Your garden perpetuates itself. For instance, instead of planting onions each year, try leeks. When a recipe calls for onions, and you have none handy, grab a leek from your yard instead.

Plant Guilds: Groupings of plants that naturally occur together and seem to be connected as a whole. The image here from DryLandSolutions is of a very well known plant guild called "The Three Sisters". Cornstalks provide a trellis for beans. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil. Squash foliage inhibits any weeds. Plant guilds can become as complex as you like and go beyond just vegetables.

When Life gives you lemons... Plant a lemon tree with supportive plants all around!

"I have heard landscape designers lament the jobs given them by Realtors" Fred Bové informed me on a recent visit to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. Fred is the director of adult education there, and very involved in the 12 week permaculture design certification course there. "When you list a home for sale, you hire landscapers to quickly and cheaply stage a yard with splashes of color that will only last for the few months that the home is listed."

I can see his point. After the decision to sell a home is made, we have a time schedule to follow. Sure, it is possible to hire a permaculture landscape designer to help you leave a place better than you found it. You can find their contact information at the end of this article. Paying for permaculture should be more like paying for an education. The more it is used, the more valuable it is.

Think of your yard when you are not thinking of moving. I know it is difficult with the need for two full time incomes to run a family to consider anything but your immediate needs. Try not to think of your yard as something that needs to be conquered. “A permaculture garden is not something that can be completed by this Saturday” says Fred Bové. “I think the proliferation of things like yoga classes prove that society is turning from warrior mode to lover mode.” Think in time with nature while spending time in your garden. Do not tackle the whole yard. Just change that one little thing you noticed while in your hammock.

During this difficult housing market those who do not have to sell their home are waiting for a time it is more profitable to sell. Think what a selling point it would be at that time to have your yard carefully planned and providing colorful food instead of temporary color. What could be more appealing to a home buyer than a bountiful garden that can maintain itself?

Local Resources:
(contact me to be added to this list)

Middlebrook Gardens
Permaculture with a local ecology restoring twist.
76 Race Street
San Jose, CA 95126

Common Ground
Garden supply and education
559 College Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 49306

SF Botanical Gardens
Education and Certification
9th Avenue at Lincoln Way
San Francisco, CA 94122

SF Landscapes
Professional landscape designers that have graduated from the SFBG certification course
Casey Allen / Brett Stephens / David Cody
(415) 585-9137

Debra Lundsford Designs
Profesional landscape designer that has graduated from the SFBG certification course
(415) 647-8356

Further Reading:

Books:

Gaia's Garden
A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture
by Toby Hemenway
This is the most referred to book for permaculture in suburbia, and my own personal favorite on the subject.

Introduction to Permaculture
by Bill Molison
Written by the founder of permaculture, with broad enough concepts to be implemented in any climate.

Websites

Urban Permaculture Guild
Bay area projects and activism with a calendar of events.

ATTRA
National Sustainable Agriculture Information website

Other Media

Permaculture Movies
All collected for free viewing through streaming media

Permaculture Magazine
Based out of the UK, but the oldest permaculture periodical, and well respected.

Green Checklist for Homes

2008-02-14T05:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a checklist you can use while looking for a house, or when looking for ways to improve your current home.

APPLIANCES AND COMPONENTS

Built-in recycling center
Clothes washer-horizontal access
Energy-efficient appliances
Energy-efficient clothes dryer
Energy-efficient dishwasher
Energy-efficient freezer
Energy-efficient heating, ventilation, and a/c
Energy-efficient refrigerator
Gas clothes dryer with electronic ignition
Gas cooktop with electronic ignition
Programmable thermostat(s)
Self-cleaning oven

APPLIANCES - WATER

On-demand hot water heater
Rainwater recovery system
Water-conserving appliances
Water-conserving clothes washer
Water-conserving dishwasher
Water-conserving shower
Water-conserving toilet

BUILDING MATERIALS

Advanced framing techniques
Bamboo flooring
Building material reuse/exchange
Cement board siding
Certified wood
Concrete flooring
Cork flooring
House/building wraps-radiant barriers
Insulating concrete forms
Natural Fiber insulation
Paper-based countertops
Pre-cut/assembled building systems
Recycled building materials
Recycled content drywall
Recycled and natural fiber carpets
Salvaged materials
Salvaged wood flooring
Strawbale construction
Sustainable forest products

CERTIFICATIONS

GreenPoint rated Home
GreenPoint (bay area)
Built to green building specifications-other
Earth Advantage-Northwest US
EarthCraft House-Southeast US
Energy Star Qualified Home
HERS Score 90-100 (scale 0 - 500; 0 best)
HERS Score under 90 (scale 0 - 500; 0 best)
LEED Certified-Commercial
LEED for Homes Certified
LEED for Neighborhoods Certified
NAHB Model Green Home - Bronze
NAHB Model Green Home - Silver
NAHB Model Green Home - Gold

CONSTRUCTION

Adobe
Earthship
Rammed Earth
Strawbale

ELECTRICITY & GAS

Alternative energy options
Natural gas
Propane
Rooftop solar
Solar Panels
Solar photovoltaic system
Wind turbine

ENVIRONMENTAL

Mold tested/inspected-acceptable limits
Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA)
Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA)
Private water (well, spring)-meets EPAs standards
Radon less than 4 pCi/L - long-term test (over 90 days)
Radon less than 4 pCi/L - short-term test (2-90 days)
Radon mitigation system

INSULATION - BASEMENT

Cellulose, post-consumer recycled content
Formaldehyde-free insulation
Natural fiber
R11-R19, warm climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R11-R19, warm climate, electric resistance heat
R11-R19, moderate climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R11-R19, moderate climate, electric resistance heat
R11-R19, cold climate, gas/oil heat
R13-R19, cold climate, heat pump or electric resistance heat
Structural insulated panels

INSULATION - CEILING AND ATTIC

Cellulose, post-consumer recycled content
Formaldehyde-free insulation
Natural fiber
R22-R38, warm climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R38-R49, warm climate, electric resistance heat
R38, moderate climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R49, moderate climate, electric resistance heat
R38-R49, cold climate, gas/oil heat
R49, cold climate, heat pump or electric resistance heat
Soy-based spray foam
Spray foam

INSULATION - WALL

Cellulose, post-consumer recycled content
Formaldehyde-free insulation
Natural fiber
R11-R13, warm climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R13-R25, warm climate, electric resistance heat
R11-R22, moderate climate, gas/oil or heat pump heat
R11-R26, moderate climate, electric resistance heat
R11-R22, cold climate, gas/oil heat
R11-R28, cold climate, heat pump or electric resistance heat
Soy-based spray foam
Spray foam
Structural insulated panels

LANDSCAPING

Bioswale for stormwater
Composite & plastic decking material-recycled content
Composite & plastic fencing material-recycled content
Drought tolerant/water conserving landscaping
Integrated pest management
Mulch-locally produced "greenwaste"
Natural water/drainage features
Public water supply
Rainwater
Restore and enhance natural vegetation
Rock, Stone & Gravel-local/recycled
Windbreaks

LIGHTING

Automatic control system for lighting
Natural daylighting
Skylights
Solar powered walkway or outdoor lighting area
Solar/Sun tube(s)

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT & MISC.

Cover for wildlife
Curbside recycling
Firebreaks
Native vegetation
Parks and public lands within a few miles
Public transportation within ½ mile
Radon tested, within acceptable limits
Recycling facilities nearby
Shade Trees
Water conserving landscaping
Water quality tested, acceptable results
Water rights

ORIENTATION AND SITE PLACEMENT

Earth bermed
Passive solar design
Southern exposure

ROOF

EDPM
Green roof-vegetation/garden
Living roof
Metal roofing-recycled content
Radiant roof barriers
Reflective roof coating
Reflective roofing-Energy Star
Slate
Tile

SPACE COOLING

Cooling - Air-source heat pump
Cooling - Geothermal heat pump
Cooling - Evaporative cooling (swamp cooler)
Cooling - High SEER air conditioner (13 or higher)
Cooling - Passive cooling
Overhangs above south facing windows

SPACE HEATING

Heating - 90% or higher energy efficiency furnace
Heating - 90% or higher energy efficiency boiler
Heating - Active solar heating
Heating - Air-source heat pump
Heating - Baseboard hot water heat
Heating - Geothermal heat pump
Heating - Passive solar heating
Heating - Radiant floor heating
Heating - Solar water heating
HVAC zones

VENTILATION

Ceiling fan(s)
Smoke-Free
Ventilation system
Whole house fan
Whole house vacuum

WINDOWS

Energy Star Windows
Energy-efficient window coatings
Energy-efficient windows
Fiberglass Frames (highest insulation)
Low-e window coating
Spectrally selective glass
Vinyl Frames (moderate to high insulation)
Wood Frames (high insulation)

Green Frustrations

2007-09-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

I hereby offer my apologies for my absence. (Max!) Blogging has been interrupted with contracts and home sales. Although most of the country is in a housing slump, the South SF Bay Area is still going strong.

It is a relief to receive emails from people requesting more writing on the subject of green real estate. Lately it feels that green real estate expertise is an unwanted commodity. I was at an office meeting last Tuesday where Bay Area real estate leaders proclaimed an anti-environmentalist agenda. Home buyers are much more interested in a home’s school district than whether or not it is oriented well for passive solar heating.

Reading my RSS feeds had to take a backseat while I studied up on the meanings behind public school API scores. My mother is known within the office as an expert on which schools are desirable. You tell her an address, and she will tell you what school district it is in. While I still have to look the address up, I feel confident in knowing on which homes buyers are still outbidding each other.

Still, within these school districts it is possible to search for home features that encourage energy efficiency, good indoor air quality and water conservation. I try to point out such features and be an environmental educator as I go. I am sure other educators will share in my frustration in not knowing whether I am getting through to anyone. People do not want to be preached to when buying a home. They want someone to listen to their needs. So my ideals should always take a back seat to my client’s ideals. In this market, public school test scores are the ideal.

Last Tuesday at our weekly office meeting, Mark Burns, president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR) came with Adam Montgomery, the Association’s Government Affairs Officer to speak to our office about the Association’s political action committee, and to ask us to donate more money to the cause. They were bragging that on a local level the Association of realtors is one of the largest PACs and whomever they back has always had enough money to win.

While speaking of whom they were backing, Mark Burns also entertained the group by talking down candidates and measures in need of defeating. The act was much in the vein of Rush Limbaugh entertainment, causing the group to laugh and shake their heads. To disagree with such statements would make one seem foolish and deserving of ridicule from all the jocks in one’s high school graduating class.

He then went on to describe with disdain an example of New Urbanism being backed by a candidate that simply must be defeated. His reasoning was entertaining, but familiar. I know of numerous studies that have proven that more lanes of traffic actually do not ease but increase congestion, but I kept quiet. The candidates had already been chosen by committee and were not up for debate.

Later he mentioned the need to block initiatives in Cupertino trying to make building and remodeling more Green. We are already Green enough and such laws would make development worthless. I was overwhelmed by the groans of agreement within the room.

I used to think that becoming a Green-focused Realtor might be redundant. SILVAR has already attained a Green business certification. The debate over the existence of global warming has ended, and the movement is well underway. If everyone has heard of a straw bale home, surely everyone knows the need for more sustainable housing.

However, the general attitudes of those in the real estate industry are far behind public opinion, especially in the Bay Area. What seems like a logical next step in action to me is impractical and inconvenient to those whom are in a position to take action.

No, being a Green Realtor is not cliché yet. All the same, your emails of encouragement are a huge help to remind me to not just give up and join the rest of the crowd. Now, if only one of you Green-minded readers would just buy a house from me! Putting your money where your mouth is sends much more of a statement than any writing or petitioning.

No study proving the value of new urbanism will change the mind of Mark Burns. Customers demanding to only spend money on environmentally conscious homes will change the mind of Mark Burns. The people in power are only following what will most easily turn a profit for them. The power to make the world a better place is in your hands.

Driving The Point Home

2007-07-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

I slept with my bedroom window open last night, and woke this morning to the sound of the Grand Prix emanating from downtown San Jose.

My whole focus on being Green stems from an opinion I have on cars, so you might think I have negative things to say about the Grand Prix today. I don’t really. If we are going to use petroleum for vehicles, using it for a high performance sport that brings crowds of people together makes more sense to me than… Well, I should back up here.

I have been avoiding the subject of Green cars on this blog because it has little to do with the housing market I am trying to focus on here. Hybrids, biofuels, EV’s… I have opinions on all of them, but they stray from the main point of this blog: Your home. However, how much time do we spend living in our cars as opposed to our homes?

This aspect of cars has everything to do with the housing market. You have heard me talk before about zoning laws disallowing places we live to be nearby places we work, and neither is zoned to be a place we go shopping. For every activity in our daily lives, we must hop in a car and travel.

It is for this reason that I started down my path of weird hippie ideas of living. I hate driving. I just am not good at it. I get distracted too easily, and am a danger to myself, my family, and everyone else on the road. I tried using public transportation for a while, but buses are all that is available, and the confounded routes going in circles take longer than it would to walk to a destination. Walking is not safe! Too many streets are designed for the convenience of cars, not people.

I never have had a problem with people who enjoy their cars, and enjoy driving them. In all honesty, I have no problem with you driving an inefficient car if you love it. If public transportation from walking, riding bikes, buses to trains were designed well, those of us who do not love driving would be able to get off the road and enable you to have less traffic to enjoy your driving more. Let’s face it. Those of you who enjoy driving have wished drivers like me off the road all along.

If the money spent on repairing and building new roads were spent on making alternative forms of transportation easier, there would be less of us on the road to make repairs and new road necessary to begin with. I do drive a hybrid, but I do not think alternative energy efficient cars are the answer. We do not need to change our cars. We need to change our means of transportation. This means changing the zoning laws so that we can ride a bike to work, and walk to get some milk at the store. This means spending our tax dollars on making such forms of transportation safe and convenient instead of spending it all on perpetuating our car dependent form of transportation.

Oops! Where did that soapbox come from? After last week, I promised myself I would not be so preachy. Oh well. Next week I will give out advice instead of trying to sway opinion. In the meantime, lets tie all these ideas into the housing market, shall we?

When purchasing your next home, consider how you will leave your home before you buy. Can you easily walk to the store if you want to? Is a light rail station nearby? (I’ve given up on buses.) Is it safe to send the kids out to walk the dog, or is the traffic to close to the sidewalk? Placing such priorities on your purchase of a home has much more influence on our society than voting at the polls. If there is a high demand to spend money on well thought out communities, well thought out communities are more likely to be built. If you demand a more convenient house more than you demand a bigger house, communities will be rezoned to supply your demands.

A movement has sprung up that has many of the same ideals as Green building that addresses creating more sustainable communities. It is called New Urbanism. National Geographic has a terrific interactive flash demonstration of New Urbanism. Please go play there and daydream of your new community -- either the new community you move to or the one you help create right where you are now. I am watching the New Urbanist community for local events and will be reporting them here.

In the meantime, go and enjoy the Grand Prix without guilt. Changing our everyday communities will have much more of an effect on making our world more Green than changing our communal celebrations. Better yet, try using light rail to get there instead of waiting in traffic to find a parking spot.

Green Isn't Everything

2007-07-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of chatter among the Green blogs about the latest Harry Potter book. Some say it's the "greenest" book ever. Some say such a claim is "greenwashing". I say arguing either way misses the "green" point. If you want to make effective change in the world, you need to look at the bigger picture.

Is it not the bigger picture that drew us to green thinking to begin with? When we come up with rigid rules for what is socially acceptable to call something green, we are making that picture narrow again.

Having rules and guidelines is a great boon to our cause. People love the recognition of achieving a certain certification. Criticizing someone for not meeting those same guidelines does not inspire them to do better. It discourages everyone else from trying. Rules and guidelines are a great start, but they mean as much as the latest computer technology. They will soon be out of date, as we think of newer, better and more effective ways to be Green.

I am trying to speak generally here, so that my message can be applied to Green living in our homes. I want to use Harry Potter as an example of my point, and then I promise to tie it back in to the purpose of my blog at the end. This is all about the marketing, not the plot. You will get no spoilers from me. Unlike SOME people! (Katie, you're a brat for leaving that message on my cell phone when you finished the book before me! ;-p)

Early Friday evening, we all walked together as a family to our local bookstore to get in line at 6 pm. My eight-year-old dressed up as a witch and was excitedly looking at the other costumes in line. We jabbered away with others around us. There were people from the very young to the very old, the bookworms to the jock and cheerleader types, generations of locals to recent immigrants and all manner of religions. We all knew that it would be hours after midnight before we would get the book. We all knew that we could easily get a good night's rest and get the book without a long wait the next morning. We were there to celebrate.

Not everyone likes Harry Potter books, but the fact that so many of us do is quite an accomplishment. A great bard of our time had accomplished something worth celebrating, and we sought community to celebrate the accomplishment.

Our whole family gets together while I read aloud because the eight-year-old wants to be included, and the reading is a bit hard for her. One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was that my children were disappointed in the movie renditions because the voices weren't right. It made all the glasses of water trying to sooth a sore throat worth the effort for making my Dobby voice.

Now, something here really blows my mind. We have had other great bards reach the majority of us in our lifetime. But this was usually in the form of a movie or television show. (Yes, we were dressed up and in line for Star Wars for similar reasons.) All this hype that we were willingly buying into was over a book this time. A book! Who ever heard of crowd control measures being used at book stores before? I found myself trying to tell my son to go play a video game and stop nagging me for his turn with a book! (Don't worry. I did come to my senses and let him read.)

Here we are, arguing over the percentage of post-consumer recycled content of the pages, when my whole family is clamoring for a turn with the precious object that will never be thrown away. If we are measuring the amount of energy put into producing the book, do we count the energy saved by those of us who walked to a bookstore instead of driving to a movie theater? Must we really turn our noses up at the blatant consumerism at a time when it is so difficult to get us all out of our suburban separation to come together as a community? Why are we criticizing the media churning the hype in the same breath we are bemoaning the loss of our children's literacy to the media?

It's a book! We have hysteria over a series of books! How long has it been since this happened? If we criticize the good because it could have been better, we are missing the point. If we applaud the good for reasons that did not make it good, we are missing the point. Not everything is about being Green.

Now, I say this within a blog about being Green. I am basing my profession on being Green within a very wasteful and thoughtless profession. This is because I hope that someday soon, this blog and my declaration of being a Green real estate agent will be obsolete. All real estate agents will care about the effect each home has on the world as a whole. No one will need simplistic advice on how to get solar panels just like no one needs simplistic advice on how to get a new roof now.

In the meantime we have terrific entities that give us guidelines on how to make our homes Greener. They give us certifications to aim for and look for as consumers. Those who get an EnergyStar symbol slapped on their circuit breaker are no better than their neighbors who just changed out their bedroom lights with CFLs.

Yes, both these measures will not save the world, but they are both steps in the right direction. If we argue over their relative effectiveness, we are missing the bigger picture. We need to keep moving even if we misstep. Help the stumbling around you get back up and save face, so they can take another step with pride. Just as everything we do effects the world we live in, everything we say to each other effects what we do.

Solar Panels

2007-07-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Now that I have my little business cards with my EcoBroker® designation proudly displayed, the most common question I have heard is “We have been thinking about putting up solar panels. Where would we start with that?”

That depends on what you want to accomplish with your solar panels. Do you want to

1. Generate Electricity,
2. Generate Heat, or
3. Generate Light?

Of course, you do not have to stick with just one of these goals. Read through the following options, explore the websites and the combinations of techniques and technologies that are best for you will become apparent.

If you want your electricity meter to run backwards (you cannot actually bring your bills to zero or lower), your most economical first step is to adjust your energy consumption first. That is a whole other blog entry. Until then, check out this children’s game from the UK that covers the basics in a much more fun way than reading a blog. My Abodo

1. Generate Electricity

If you are generating electricity, your solar panels are called photovoltaic (PV). Most of us in the South Bay are not concerned with living off of the city electrical grid and have no need for storing electricity in batteries. Generally what happens for an existing residential home is a retrofit of a BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics) system. You may fit it onto your roof or locate it separately and connect it to your home electrical system by cable.

2. Generate Heat

If you are generating heat for your home (usually heating water in residential instances), your solar panels are plates usually painted with selective coatings that absorb and retain heat. Here in the SF Bay Area, this is an effective way to cut down on fuel bills from heating water. The solar collector is usually mounted on the roof and is connected to a circuit containing water. The headed liquid flows around a circuit to warm the main hot water tank or swimming pool.

3. Generate Light

If you are using sunlight to generate light in your home, consider implementing passive solar techniques. Passive solar is the absorption of solar energy in a building to save on heating and cooling costs. Windows are placed on a south-facing wall with an architectural feature that absorbs heat behind it. An overhang over the south-facing windows enables low angled winter sunlight to enter, while shading the home from the sun in the summer. Windows on the east and west sides of the building help to generate ventilation for summer cooling. I never have to use an air conditioner to keep my home cool using these methods during our summer heat waves.

If your home is not appropriately oriented for passive solar heating, light can be brought in to your home to lower electricity bills from lighting. For this, look into light shelves, skylights, and light tubes.

Have the Government Help You Pay For It

Now that you have a rough idea of what systems you want to look into using, make sure you pick systems and products that are approved by the government so that you can get your rebates. For up to date information in financial incentives for solar panel installation, make sure you check out the following websites:

PDF file from the Department of Energy about financing solar panels
Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
SEIA PDF file with information on federal tax credits for solar systems
Go Solar California: the state government website on solar system incentives

Don’t Forget Your Sunglasses

This should be enough information to enable you to research your own needs for solar panels. If you are still confused, need help finding financing, or want help finding qualified solar panel installers, feel free to email me.

Dream Small

2007-07-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

"The American dream" causes people to purchase larger and larger homes. We do not need as much space as you think. If the space you live in is designed well, you need never feel cramped. In a smaller space, other green ideas like consuming less stuff, turning off lights in rooms you aren't using, and energy efficiency just happen naturally.

So, when you dream of a better place to live, dream of improving the space you have first. Then, when you really do need to move, your home will be worth more anyway.

Green Building IS Worth It.

2007-07-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

I came across a fellow blogger at Lime.com that asked if his green building was worth the effort over conventional building if he is only going to be moving away soon anyway. Of course I had to respond:

I would say it is worth it! And most Realtors wo uld agree with the value of building green. Here is some green market data I gleaned while getting my certification from EcoBroker.

When you build the studio, have a certified Energy Star inspector come out and rate it. Have them rate your home too, while they are there. More than 2000 builders have constructed over 200,000 Energy Star qualified new homes, locking in financial savings for homeowners that exceed $60 million annually. The nations 10 largest homebuilders are now Energy Star partners, and 23 of the top 25 builders offer Energy Star qualified homes. It is something that gets marketed when you sell your home. Even if your home does not qualify, the rating it is given can enable the buyer of your home to qualify for a larger loan to make it more energy efficient before they move in. Government programs have incentives for such things.
Do a quick search for an organization that specializes in green residential buildings in your area. I know Built Green operates near you in Colorado, and Build it Green is my local one in the SF bay area. They might be able to help you with your project, and any certification they offer can be marketed like the Energy Star marketing mentioned above.
Analysis indicates home value increases by about $20 for every $1 reduction in annual utility bills ("More Evidence of Rational Market Values for Home Energy Efficiency" from the Appraisal Journal).
94% of 300 American consumers surveyed by the Cahners Residential Group in 2001, cited their most sought-after green upgrade as energy savings, followed by water-saving appliances and recycled building materials. In addition, roughly nine in ten (91%) said energy efficient features in a new home are extremely or very important.
In a 2002 nationwide study of more than 400 home buyers conducted by American LIVES, more than half the respondents said they are willing to pay more for formaldehyde-free insulation, environmentally friendly paints, solvent-free andhesives, and other materials that do not release chemicals into the air.
In 2003, with the help of energy efficient technologies, Americans saved over $8 billion on their energy bills while preventing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions from 18 million vehicles. These benefits have helped develop a national market for energy efficient products, with more than one billion Energy Star products sold and billions of square feet of building space improved.
The most important environmental issues for consumers are: saving energy, using recycled content building products, improving air quality, and saving old-growth threes.

When you sell your home, my advice would be to market your home's green qualities. Certainly your studio built with green in mind from the ground up is very marketable! There are people willing to pay a premium, and even move from farther away in an effort to find a green home. Make sure your agent markets your home in:

Dwell Green
EcoBroker
Green Real Estate
Green Homes For Sale
Listed Green
and Sustainable Sources

Never price your home higher for any upgrade. Price your home competitively with your neighbors. The lower you price your home, the more people will see it, and bid the price up. This is especially true if they are competing for a green building. You can always reject an offer if no one competes like you expected, and raise the price. However, starting too high and lowering the price as you follow the market down is much more difficult to fix, and makes your home a dud weather you built with straw bale or baby seal fur!

Have fun with your renovation, and rest assured: It is definitely worth it to build it green.

Energy Ethics

2007-06-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

I spent all yesterday at the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. It's the local branch of the NAR. My day consisted of an orientation, swearing an oath, and an ethics class. Nothing dealing with green issues was discussed there, so why am I writing about it? Because we had a power outage.

All the presentations centered around PowerPoint, so they were about to send us home. The lights came back on just as they had us all raise our hands for the oath. This lead me to a brief contemplation of the energy generated from Realtor armpits. Nevertheless, the power was on again, so we had to go back to our ethics class with the caveat: "This always happens in the summer".

How quickly we get used to things instead of doing something to fix them. We just deal with rolling blackouts and shrug our shoulders. No big deal. Perhaps power outages will become so commonplace, people will learn to give a presentation without a slide show projecting exactly what they are saying. Why not just skip to doing things that do not require power to avoid causing the power drain?

Granted, a PowerPoint presentation is not putting strain on the grid, but air conditioners are. If we have to get used to rolling blackouts because they happen every summer, we will have to insulate our houses, and make sure we have good East/West ventilation to keep our houses from cooking us. Why not just keep our houses cool that way, and leave the air conditioners off?

Why does it take catastrophe to change? Good insulation is much cheaper than running an air conditioner. Why doesn't saving money spur change? If change is inevitable, why is it resisted?

In any case, change really is inevitable, and it doesn't matter what spurred it's arrival. I look forward to when proclaiming myself a "green" real estate agent is obsolete. Eventually all homes will have to be fixed up for energy efficiency and clean indoor air before they are sold. In the mean time, I am banking on the hope that there are other people like me eager to make the change before they have to.

2007-06-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

G Team Real Estate

Twenty Years of Experience + Fresh New Energy =

The Best 2 for 1 Deal in Silicon Valley

Since 1989, signs started popping up all over the south bay area for homes with Barbara Gwozdz as the listing agent. To simplify her last name, Barbara simply added to the signs, “Ask for Barbara ‘G’”.

Barbara is pleased to announce that her daughter Holly G. Latta is joining ranks with her to help make dreams of homeownership come true. Together they make the G Team. Nearly twenty years of experience, plus fresh new energy equals the best two for one deal in the south bay.

Barbara has lived right here in Silicon Valley for over thirty-four years, and Holly has lived here all of her life. They know the benefits and challenges to living here, and can help get their clients exactly what they are looking for.

Early in life, both women were stay-at-home moms and volunteered in many aspects of their children’s lives. As many parents know, such positions filled by parent volunteers require an unprecedented amount of time, energy, leadership skills, and creativity. All of which have been put to use by these women in real estate.

In addition to these essential Realtor skills, Barbara has been involved in development and construction of new homes. She knows more about the systems of a home than most Realtors and can help her clients see items they may have missed.

Holly has always had a bee in her bonnet about sustainable living. She has found ways to integrate her passion with her profession by passing along the ways and means to save energy, money, improve indoor air quality, and much more during the crucial time that a property exchanges hands. She worked hard to become EcoBroker® Certified. This distinction continues to enable her to maintain and keep her "green" skills up to date.

Holly grew up watching Barbara grow her family of clients. Seeing the energy Barbara poured out to find that perfect home, negotiate the best price, or solve those inevitable sticky points in any transaction has been good preparation for Holly’s training. It is no surprise that Barbara has accumulated high acclaim from both buyers and sellers. To see what they are saying about working with the G team, please click here.

Get two Realtors for the price of one –

GET THE G TEAM!

Portrayal of Wasteful Realtors in Movies

2007-06-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

My daughter learned to ride her bike without training wheels, and promptly broke her arm. Just in time for summer when she wants to spend her time in vigorous activity and swimming! To compensate for her frustrations, we have taken her to the movie theater frequently. Twice now, there have been Realtors portrayed as bad characters.

The first one was in Nancy Drew. I almost died laughing when the Realtor identified herself as "Barbara". The way she says "Barbara of Barbara Barbara Realty" is almost exactly how we say "www.barbaragrealtor.com". I was looking for a movie picture of the character to put here. I thought I had finally found one, when I double checked, and it was a real Realtor. Overdressed just like the character.

The second one was last night in Evan Almighty and this time it was not simply the overdressed opulence being portrayed. This Realtor was excited to sell ridiculously over sized houses on land that used to be a pristine wilderness. The theme of the movie was green, and I thought fit perfectly with a point I want to make here.

Portrayal of Realtors as the bad guys is not entirely unfounded. These characters are funny because they hit a chord of truth. They are only interested in the hero of the story when they are buying or selling a house. If the hero is not buying or selling a house, the character is trying to talk them into buying or selling a house. The hero doing something financially unsound is cause for celebration with champagne for the Realtor.

Already I have been to meetings for Realtors counseling us to be pushy. On one level it makes sense because the industry is set up to only reward the Realtor for sales. I have been told many horror stories of Realtors investing a ton of money, time, and energy on someone who uses all their hard work only to turn around and give their friend's cousin the commission. Experienced agents learn not to invest their emotions in anyone until they are certain that person is committed to bring them money in the end.

Both Realtors portray the attitude of "consume, consume consume" instead of "location, location, location". We laugh as the characters encourage the purchase of something the heroes don't need. Then they try to sell more of it. Run out of room? Tear down all the trees and make more so they can sell some more!

There is definitely a housing shortage in the Silicon Valley. All the orchards and farmland have gone for great big boxes with no yards. Everyone loves to blame the builders for these monstrosities, but they wouldn't build if it were not constantly being bought. There is a demand for housing near all these jobs, and that demand needs to be met. Realtors have clients in need of a home, and they want a big home. Tear down and build so we can sell them!

The rental market here is ridiculous. The cost of maintaining an apartment complex is more expensive than any rent income by tens of thousands of dollars each year. The only money to be made as a landlord is to purchase a complex, and sell it years latter at such a higher cost it makes up for all the losses while they owned it. So how do we as Realtors advise someone to make money in rental properties? Consume, consume, consume!

This can all be done sensibly though. The National Association of Realtors is the largest political action committee in the United States. The purpose of a PAC is to influence laws and lawmakers. Right now we influence real estate laws to be like that of a multi level marketing scheme. Simple changes in the structure we espouse, would mean less money for the top of the pyramid, but a healthier relationship with our clients. Realtors should be independent contractors, or salaried employees of the broker. Not an unbalanced combination of the two with legal ramifications for being too independent or too organized.

City ordinances disallow places to live to be combined with places to work. There is no such thing as an apartment above the bakery shop. The lady handing you your cruller had to commute from Los Banos.

It is also illegal to rent out a room in your house. Granny units are highly regulated. An apartment above a garage is unheard of here. Wouldn't it be nice if an elderly couple could charge rent that a school teacher could afford? This would prevent them from commuting to work to supplement their pension.

Most importantly, we need to demand smaller houses. I am not saying you need to give up the "American Dream", although for some people a small ecological footprint is the dream. If the space in our homes were used as efficiently as possible to maximize the use of the resources available, many homes could have the look and feel of the huge monstrosities on the inside without the imposition of real estate on the outside. We do not need to reinvent the wheel here. Other countries have glamorized living small for centuries.

These are all sweeping general policy ideas that have very little to do with your personal efforts of making the home you have more green. I do not ask you to start any crusades for these causes unless you want to. I do ask that you keep these ideas in the back of your mind as you make purchasing decisions that influence public policy. When dreaming about your dream home, look for smaller inspirations. If housing polices are being examined in your area, speak up for allowing home businesses, granny units, and blended zoning.

When you run into a Realtor that fits those movie stereotypes, give them some understanding for their circumstances. Try to keep in mind that we are not all like that. Some of us are even actively trying to fight such behavior.

Certification Day! Hurray!

2007-06-21T15:37:00.001-07:00

I truly had a blast taking the classes for this certification. The information was new, useful, and challenging. The assignments were so helpful I found myself able to start to apply some ideas right away. I am really happy with the way the material was presented as well. It was obviously kept up to date.

Well, I guess that takes care of the first of my goals. On to the second one now!

Green Staging

2007-06-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

My mother is the Queen of staging a home for sale. Over the years, she has built up quite a collection of staging supplies. Several years ago, I was impressed to watch her make an arrangement with her favorite furniture store. The furniture store lent her furniture for staging in her spec home. In exchange, this gave them extra storage and visibility. People would go through a fancy open house, and see the price and where to obtain the furniture that caught their eye.

This weekend, I am holding an open house in Morgan Hill. Here is a picture in case you are trying to look at that link after the home is sold. The house is vacant and beautifully staged. As large as her collection is, she still had to go out and buy more stuff for staging.

All this got me to thinking of how to stage in a sustainable way. A benefit of all my reading and researching green homes is that by default, I also learn a lot about household products that were produced sustainably and promote green living. As my mother has need to replenish and replace her collection, we can aim for using these green products.

Here is where I need your input. How would you know if you were walking through an open house if the stuff around you was environmentally conscious? Are people looking for green homes already familiar with green products? Would little note cards explaining how they are sustainable, and where they can be obtained (similar to the furniture my mother used) be useful information to you? Or would it be just too much marketing for too many things, and make you feel like you are in the IKEA scene in Fight Club? I need your feedback! Please leave a comment below.