Earth Advantage Certification Part 1

A week or so ago, Rachael, Alex (project head), Stephen (Green Hammer owner) and Rebecca (helps navigate green certification processes) met with Glen Wear at Earth Advantage. Earth Advantage was once an energy-reduction program run through PGE and is now an independent (of PGE and Enron, thankfully!) non-profit that works with homeowners, developers and contractors. The primary focus of Earth Advantage remains energy management, but now extends to include indoor air quality, environmentally responsible building practices and resource efficiency.

We worked with Glen to identify the specific aspects of our remodel that are, and are not, green. The list was 19 pages long, and while we didn't have every box on every page checked, it was evident that we had made many intentional, sustainable choices. Some of those choices were ours--we knew we wanted: a house with a smaller footprint, to reuse as much as possible, to use FSC certified wood and low-VOC paints and primers, to create a drip irrigation system, and so on--but many others came from Green Hammer. Many of their "green" practices are inherent to the way the company runs. These include Non-required erosion control, recycling what can't be reused, reusing all that can be, participating in green building symposiums and buying locally.

We'll hear back from Glen in the next week or so with some suggestions for improvement as well as some cost estimates (non profit does not mean free!). Glen will need to test some air flow aspects to see how leaky our house is and how quickly air recycles. More on this when we get there!