Georgia to Receive $50 million for Weatherization of Low-Income Homes

image credit bobvila.com

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the State of Georgia will receive $50 million to expand it’s weatherization program for low income families, and could potentially receive as much as $125 million total if the state’s plan is effective and does what it is supposed to do.  This is part of Obama’s $787 billion Recovery Act Package.

How are low income families identified?  Up to twice the poverty level – Less than $44,100 for family of 4

Expected number of Homes? 13,600

Average cost per home? Up to $6,000

What improvements will be made? Sealing Air Ducts & Adding Weather Stripping to Windows

I can’t imagine that this won’t be successful.  I wish we could roll out programs like this to every existing home.  There is such an opportunity to save energy in existing homes.  If you are interested in improving the efficiency of your home, please don’t hesitate to ask.  I have some wonderful recommendations of efficiency-minded contractors that would love to help you out.  You can read the AJC article by clicking here.

Carson Matthews
Bringing Green to the Scene!

Solar Power at the Beach

This morning my son Henry and I went out to the beach to see the sunrise. It was amazing but it got me thinking about harnessing the power of the sun.  I can confidently say that I have not seen a solar panel once in all the years we have been coming here, and come to think about it at any beach…ever.  As much sun as these homes get day in and day out, there is a huge opportunity to collect that energy and use it to power these homes.  Especially if they are lightly used in the winter, you could probably pay for your summer bills by just selling the power back to the grid all winter.  I would imagine the payoff is pretty quick.  I’m just saying, if you are reading this and you own a beach house, you owe it to yourself to look into solar, you just might just find that pot of gold you were looking for as it rises over the Atlantic Ocean.

Cheers!

The Green Life Speaker Series

  Carol and I are happy to present our first “Green Life” Speaker Series which will take place this coming Wednesday, June 10th at 7pm.  It will be held at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve on Roswell Road just across the street from Pike’s Nursery.  Our featured speaker will be Matt Hoots of the Hoots Group.  Matt is a leader in the Green building industry in Atlanta and will talk about sustainable solutions for your home.  Our flyer is below and you can also learn more about The Hoots Group at www.thehootsgroup.com.   We really look forward to seeing you.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me at 678-595-9286 or post a comment on here.

     

Zero Waste Zone in Buckhead

I saw an interesting article in the Buckhead Reporter this week about the new Zero Waste Zone in Buckhead.  You can only imagine the amount of waste that area restaurants produce on a daily basis.  I have worked in several restaurants and they all work differently, but in every case there is a great deal of waste.  Many of the kitchens I worked in did a really good job of using and reusing as much of the produce as possible.  It’s the little things that make or break a profit.  Anyway, participating restaurants will collect used grease for biofuel production,  send uneaten food to the hungry, (or compost as needed) and recycle paper and plastics.  It’s hard to imagine that this hasn’t been going on for ever but for one Atlanta restaurant that was quoted in the paper, they are proud to be the area’s first “dumpster-free” restaurant.  All of the waste at Ecco is picked up by a recycling or composting company.  That is awesome! 

You can find more information about the Zero Waste Zone on the Green Foodservice Alliance’s website http://www.greenfoodservicealliance.org/index.html.

Speaking at the Southern Builders Show

This Thursday June 4th at 10:30 I will be speaking at the 2009 Southern Builders Show at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.  The show will feature speakers, an exhibit hall showcasing the latest building technologies as well as scheduled seminars.  I will be speaking on a panel and discussing recent statistics for green home sales in Atlanta.

A big attraction of the show is the Showcase Home.  This year there will be two homes, an EarthCraft House certified new construction home as well as an EarthCraft House remodel.  Here is some information on both from www.SouthernBuildingShowcase.com

The new home, an EarthCraft House certified project designed by Mike Tucker of Sweetbriar Architects Atlanta and built by Mike LaBelle of AFG Builders is another example of “mainstream green” techniques.  Employing advanced techniques such as a pre-cast foundation, High Performance Insulation and Air Sealing, Advanced Structural Framing, High Performance HVAC, among others, demonstrates to the average builder how any project can be truly “green” while meeting the average home owner’s needs. This project will be a pilot project for the Building America/NAHB research project targeting 40-70% reduction in energy usage and will be the subject of a case study and articles when complete. 

The renovation project by SawHorse, Inc, the renovation division of The Hoots Group, will be an EarthCraft certified renovation. This addition and renovation to a historic residence in the Druid Hills neighborhood, designed by Surber Barber Choate and Hertlein Architects, will push the limits of high performance residential renovation.

Recycling a Wooden Playset

Over the Memorial Day Weekend my friend and Atlanta custom home builder Stuart Grubb www.sgrubb.com helped me take apart a wooden playset in a friend’s backyard, move it to my backyard and rebuild it.  Believe it or not, we were able to do it in one day…sortof.  This is one of those huge “no-brainers” that everyone should at least give a shot.  I was told by many how hard it would be to put back together, and “it’s going to take much longer than you think”, but we were determined to get it done and even took a couple of breaks during the pretty intense thunder and lightening storm.  I was able to save well over $1000.00 and the playset avoided an early death in a nearby landfill.  If you are considering buying a new playset, be sure and email your friends first or even post it on Facebook, you never know who has a really nice playset and is just about to chop it down and throw it away.

Carson

Fat Tire to the Scene

 

6 Bombers to the Rescue

 

Last week Georgia became the newest state offering New Belgium Brewing Company’s Fat Tire.  It’s been a big deal at your favorite “jam band” parking lot.  When the crowd arrives from the west they are always toting Fat Tire because you could sell it for the price of gold in most southern states.  One thing that was pretty cool about it’s arrival in Georgia was the custom label that reads ” 1st (legal) distribution commemorative Georgia On My Ride”. 

 

On the box there is a label that really peaked my interest and it says that the beer is produced using Wind Power, which they were the first brewering in the United States to do.  Now that’s pretty cool.  After some digging on their website I found that they really put a lot of effort into creating their beer in a sustainable manner by creating energy from biowaste and they have a water treatment plant onsite reducing the contaminants in the water by 99%.  When visiting Colorado last year for the EcoBroker Conference I heard that they were considering canning fat tire which would greatly lessen the amount of waste they produce and make their product more recyclable.  You can view more information, tour the brewery and even purchase souvenirs at http://www.newbelgium.com/

The Box

 

 

Carson Matthews

Eco-Fair at Blue Heron Nature Preserve

The Eco-Fair in North Buckhead’s Blue Heron Nature Preserve was quite a hit.  I have uploaded photos from the event along with a little recap.  Please check it out at ChastainParkBlog.  It was a great event and I am glad everyone was able to make it out.

 

Carson

Blue Heron Nature Preserve Earth Day Celebration

View and Print a PDF version of this flyer by Clicking Here.

Atlanta Green Homes Committee Formation Meeting

Last night Carol and I attended Atlanta’s first Green Homes Committee Formation Meeting.  Before the meeting we toured a home in Decatur that is tracking LEED Platinum.  It was built by Robert Soens of Pinnacle Custom Builders and designed by architect Robert Cain.  It is a pretty amazing home to stand inside and visualize all of the innovative products that went inside it, not to mention all of the cool systems that are running behind the scenes including a 2500 gallon rainwater collection system that supplies water for the toilets & landscaping, a solar photovoltaic system, geothermal heating & cooling, and the list goes on.  I have included some shots of the house below.

After the tour we all met up again at Parkers on Ponce in downtown Decatur for a discussion and dinner.  Carl Seville and Robert Soens are the Co-Chairs of the committee.  The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the concept to people and businesses that are active in the green building community and begin to organize some committees that can bring more exposure to the movement and to those that have been instrumental in it’s success thus far.  One of the cool things we discussed was putting together a green home tour in Atlanta.  Another idea was a speaker series which is something Carol is pretty passionate about so we might just see that taking place in the near future.  We have discussed putting one together at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve in North Buckhead.  You can expect to see more details about that here.  It was a cool meeting and we met a lot of great people that are thinking BIG and that’s what it’s all about. 

Here are some pics of the Rain Shine House: