Posts tagged Green

Getting Started with Energy Efficiency in My Home

in General Real Estate Green on

As some I know I am in the midst of making some energy efficient upgrades on my home. I am finding that the $2500 dollar prize is great, but its only just a start.

To truly realize energy efficient gains I am faced with the choice of spending an additional three to five thousand dollars (and could easily spend more). I could get the blown insulation, but will really see and feel differences with spray foam insulation. Which costs a lot more.

$2500 would let us achieve at least 15% energy savings, but I want (and really need) more savings and a more comfortable home.

As with everything new, there is a learning curve. New experiences, new products bring new things to learn and new questions to ask. There are potential negative and unintended consequences to sealing one area of your house and not the entire unit. One of these unintended consequences is the off gassing from the spray foam insulation. It is something that I never knew about. I never knew you’d ask. I never knew not to ask.

This is a process … of learning, of asking questions, of digesting answers and asking more questions. It’s also one of budgeting.

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Seeing Green and Talking Green – Charlottesville Workshop Tomorrow

in Green Shameless Self Promotion on

I have long said that a very small percentage of the (American) populace will make green decisions – conservation of resources, smarter use of resources, building green, etc. – because it saves green not solely for altruistic reasons.

With that preface, come to the Seeing Green: Savvy Solutions for your Business and Your Community workshop tomorrow at City Space (press release after the jump); I’ll be on the panel – “Been There, done that, have the results to prove it!” at 10:45 discussing some of the ways that I and Nest Realty have chosen to go green for green reasons as much as economic reasons.

The ways that I and we have “gone green” is surprisingly long … I’m looking forward to discussing them tomorrow as well as hearing feedback on which ones are applicable beyond real estate.

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Backyard Garden, Year Two

in Green Off-topic on

Year One was a reasonable success , in that: – We fed ourselves a little bit, – We learned that gardening is a lot of work that requires constant vigilance – from weeds, deer and other critters – The family gardened together – I’d like to think I’m helping my little corner of the world by growing local, eating a bit local, and hopefully setting an example for others. – Spacing of plants matters. … In fact, they’ll likely die. – Order and planning seem to be reasonable foundations for success in gardening; I’ll let you know if that proves to be true. – I want a bigger garden. … More of my buyer clients have gardened, and many more want to have gardens; “I’d like some space for a garden” is one of the more common questions/criteria I am hearing, and I don’t think this is a self-selection whereby I am attracting like-minded buyer clients. I think more people want to garden. This is where we started This is where we ended If you’re like me and are getting started in gardening and haven’t had time to plant, may I suggest a visit to the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website ?

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Charlottesville’s Retail Relay raises Nearly $3 Million

in Green on

The online grocery retailer took in $2 million from an equity offering, while raising $959,836 from an offering of convertible notes. Retail Relay is a pretty fascinating concept that speaks to the growing locavore movement that is so prevalent in Charlottesville, as well as the busy schedules of many people. … C-Ville had a nice description recently of what Retail Relay does : The way Relay works is simple: you log on to their website, select from an extensive list of groceries (and gifts, cleaning supplies, etc.), pay with your credit card, select a pick-up location (or home delivery), then go get your necessaries in one easy trip. They even put the bags in your car (bring your own reusable totes for extra greenie points)!

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Cities Are Greener than the Suburbs. Apparently.

in Green on

And that leads to lower electricity usage, lower home heating usage — and those are the facts that I think make cities seem, at least to my eyes, significantly greener. … … And let’s just go through this — more than 85 percent of single-family detached houses in this country are owner occupied. … If you rent out single-family detached housing, they depreciate on average, more than 1 percent a year, according to some studies. And that’s quite easy to understand: renters don’t do the maintenance that homeowners do, to keep taking care of their homes.

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