The Sun Pod at the Green Festivals Convention

No sooner had I landed on the convention floor of the Green Festivals Convention when I found myself drawn to the SunPod booth. SunPod produces a line of smart, well designed greenhouses, mini-greenhouses, seed starting systems, arces, flats, and row covers. In addition to eye-pleasing designes, the products are affordably priced and worth a closer look. Very impressive... and I'm not easy to impress. Here's how you get in touch with them. You can go to www.sunpodgreenhouses.com or you can call them toll-free at 1-888-884-8388.

The Green Festivals

Here we are in Seattle to attend the Green Festival where we'll be networking with the "Greenies" and learning about the latest in the Green Movement, particularly with regard to real estate and home remodeling. We as a nation and as a community are at the beginning of a new paradigm that fortunatley, we will see become a worldwide movement in our lifetime. Of course, deep down inside most of us knew that the way things were going couldn't go on forever. We knew that burdening future generations with our debt was wrong. We knew that burning fossil fuel for transportation would lead to the global catstrophe known as global warming. And we hoped we, the perpetrators of these disasters, wouldn't be held accountable. Ha! It didn't work out that way. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to right the wrongs and make the planet a better place. This is the first of several posts to be entered over this weekend. Stay tuned.

Investing in Southern Oregon Real Estate

When I first heard that the Fed is proposing to partner up with private investors for the purpose of purchasing bank-owned toxic assets, I perked right up. My first thought was that I'd invest in in Southern Oregon real estate! I immediately thought of the grass roots campaign financing created by the Obama campaign that raised millions of dollars 25 bucks at a time. But now that some of the details are beginning to circulate, I see that the proposal is partly an olive branch extended to Wall Street. Investors must be Wall Street connected so the individual investor must hook up with their favorite Hedge Fund or Investment Group. And despite the standard opposition by economists with ph.d.'s behind their names, the concept makes sense to me. Here's why. If a toxic asset can be identified, inspected, and appraised, the investor will have a fairly good idea of what kind of value is attached to the property in question. This becomes the Hedge Funds challenge. Given enough time and with a reasonable fund to rehabilitate the residence, property will eventually appreciate. It always has; it always will. Then add one more element to this equation... inflation. Real estate has always been a hedge against inflation because the price of property has always risen to keep up with inflation. It makes sense that if an investor takes a chance on a distressed property, and that property is managed with common sense, in time the investment may well turn a tidy little profit. Yes, sir. Count me in.

Green Real Estate Basics in the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

Oh, so much talk about green this and green that, especially when it comes to green real estate, an I'm not talking about the color of a healthy lawn. The basics of green real estate really can be broken up into three simple categories. The first category is Energy Efficiency, which can be a mouthful, especially if you're into remodeling a dated home. These days, new home construction is taking energy efficiency to new levels and the job of creating an energy efficient home is mandated by building codes and made easy by the choice of an entire realm of new high-tech materials. The larger challenge for energy efficency lies in the remodeling of homes which is becoming the area for investment by home owners during these recessionary times. When remodeling, the home owner begins with the tightening of their building envelope, making the floor, roof, walls, and windows more energy efficient. This can be a financial mouthful and the amount a homeowner budgets or can afford for their remodel is crucial. Suffice to say, fistfulls of money will be involved. The blog on this category of Green real estate basics will occupy more space than a typical blog has room for, so I'll be blogging more about energy efficiency and remodeling in blogs to follow. The other two basics of green building innclude improving indoor air quality and conserving resources. More on those upcoming as well. But for now, remember this... energy efficiency begins with you, so make a committment and the rest will follow.

Green Real Estate in Southern Oregon and the Rogue Valley

Communities throughout the Southern Oregon real estate market are beginning to buzz with the sounds of activity regarding the new economic potential of going green. While the money has yet to begin flowing in force, contractors, builders, sub-contractors, developers, and home owners are beginning to get the message. Going green in the Southern Oregon real estate market is in the early states of becoming a life changing force. New technologies are in what I like to call the First Trimester of conception. Electricians are retraining for solar installation. Contractors are studying the benefits and floor plans for Passisve solar home construction. Home owners are reviewing tax breaks for alternative power installations and remodeling. And developers are preparing to go green on their new projects. Let me give you an example. A friend of mine, Eric Dillenberger, who owns Pro Tech Engineering in Merlin, Oregon, is about to begin a search for an engineer to assist him with the design of a wind generator for single family homes. This generator is not propeller driven, but rather a vertical stand-up unit that can generate power with as little as a 5 mph wind. His intention is to make it an affordable unit that can be mounted on the ground, mast, or roof top and plugged into the grid. It's something that he and I both believe will be extremely marketable, especially when coupled with some form of state and federal tax break. Yes, the gears in the wheels are starting to turn. How long before we start to feel the momentum surge under our feet? Not very. Stay tuned.

Passive Solar Homes and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

The Southern Oregon Home of the future will be tigher than a tick and more insulated than a Trappist Monk, born from the quest to save energy by preventing heat loss in the winter and keeping heat out in the summer. It is my belief that the home of tomorrow in the Southern Oregon real estate market will rise to a new level of evolution as home builders and developers begin to incorporate the benefits of the passive solar design into their projects. Doesn't it make sense to orient homes to the south with a wall of energy friendly glass that warms a thermal mass in the winter time to take advantage of solar gain? At the moment, most developers are still thinking with a 20th Century mentality. The world of tomorrow mandates a new paradign of home design, where passive solar homes become the new flagship for home construction. Local building codes must begin to mandate the passive solar home design where a southern exposure is identified. The reward for adapting to this new paradign of neighborhood construction is energy independence from the oil controlling interests of OPEC, plus the strengthening of our economy by the creation of prosperous industries for alternative energy production that do not exist on a large scale today. Like our fore fathers who dumped tea into the Boston Bay, the road to energy independence will be perilous, but the rewards will be venerated by the generations of tomorrow.

Energy Independence and the Southern Oregon Real Estate Market

The writing is on the wall. The passive and active solar homes of the future not just in the Southern Oregon real estate market, but nationwide as well will play an important role in attaining American energy independence. Federal and state tax incentives for building homes with an active solar component are already in place and will be driven even further by the aggressive energy policies of the Obama Administration which are now evolving throughout the country. The Obama goal is to introduce policies that will lead America to the land of energy independence, and as a new economy grows out of the ruble of economic ruin handed to us by the Bush Administration, attaining energy independence means the construction of new homes in communities like Grants Pass, Medford, and throughout the Rogue Valley that offer alternative energy generation as part of their design. Stricter building codes and state and federal tax incentives will encourage the full utilization of the benefits of the passive solar design along with the development, manufacture, and distribution of new materials and technologies that result in higher R-values for insulation and energy efficiency for windows, window treatments, siding, and roofing. Once again, whenever I gaze into my crystal ball, all I see is Green. My next blog: the role of the Passive Solar Home in creating a new economy.

Passive Solar Homes In Grants Pass Real Estate

Let´s talk about the neighborhoods of the future. Now that we all know the future will be bringing about green changes mandated by the Obama Administration, it's time to look at the neighborhoods of the future and what they will look like. The Passive Solar Home is the most energy efficient design ever developed. The ancients were the first to develop these homes. How ancient? Consider the cave man. His first choice was a cave with an entrace that let in the sun to gain a little warmth. Lots has changed since those early days, but the concept remains the same. But add to that a little thermal gain by having the sun shine on a thermal mass, like a tile floor, and you have modern man´s answer to the Passive Solar Home. The problem (or is that the challenge) is that builders and developers of neighborhoods are out of their comfort zone both designing and buiding Passive Solal Homes. Alas, there´s nothing to be afraid of! Take it from my wife and I. Without any technical training, we designed a Passive Solar Home nearly 30 years ago that worked like gangbusters. What we need is assertive local codes that encourage this kind of develpment. I´ve glimpsed the future and I see Passive Solar Homes in every neighborhood in every city in every state in the Union. Yes, it can be done! More about how on my next Energy Blog!