"A Rising Tide Raises All Boats."

This is a very powerful quote I read yesterday as the opening statement in a unique business philosophy. I read it again today. Tonight, I choose to share it with you and invite you to share my musing...ponder the statement in the context of the industry we share, promote and embrace.

"A Rising Tide Raises All Boats."

I learned many years ago in my U.S. Power Squadrons classes that Michigan does not have to contend with tidal waters. Michigan has 1,500 miles of navigable river or streams, more than 11,000 inland lakes and 3,200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline make for great canoeing, kayaking, rafting and tubing according to the Michigan.org website. Tremendous amounts of water and we are fortunate in Michigan that tide is not a factor.

Yet, there is a tide rising in Michigan and throughout the country. It has been called green building. It has been called sustainability. It has been called a FAD.

The media had a field day with the housing market during 2007. Depreciating home values, foreclosures, subprime collapse, and credit freezes to name a few. Housing starts were reported down. Builder confidence was down.

And then there were the reports about

 "Green" building,

               zero energy homes,

                                energy efficient homes,

                high performance homes

     **                                                      healthy homes.

All these weird people talking about all these weird ideas...no VOC's, formeldehyde free, isonene, gray water systems, geothermal, renewable....and yet so many ask, "WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT???"

It seems you can not pick up a paper or magazine, turn on a home improvement show, or hear about a new product without hearing that it is "green." Last summer I wrote a series titled, "Can You Afford NOT To Go Green?" You may want to read the series again. In our world of high health costs, asthma, ADD, rising energy costs (if you haven't heard oil hit $110/barrel today - pumps in my area are $3.45/gal regular, $3.99/gal diesel) it is important to remember that a way to contain and cap rising costs is to begin with energy conservation and then enhance the practice with renewable (non fossil fuel) energy.

This is the tide I speak of that is rising in Asheville, in Houston, in Pueblo, in Salt Lake City, in Jackson, Austin, Grand Rapids, and in so many other areas in the US. Just check out the ECO All-Stars on Active Rain sometime. Read the quality posts and find out what is going on in different areas of the country.

This Rising Tide is sweeping the country. WHY? What about this rising tide makes sense to the consumer? Global warming? Maybe, but I think there are reasons that rank higher in most consumer's minds.

I agree with Abbey Ehman, who is involved in helping pilot the LEED for Homes program in Texas who states, "Some [purchase green homes] to show off to their friends. Some do it for the greater good. But Most do it really only if it makes sense for themselves first. Most want it for durablility, comfort, and energy savings. They want to be comfortable, not pay too much for it, and be able to resell it."

I have not met Abbey. I was introduced to her through a report that came out of the University of Michigan Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise titled "Residential Green Building Report: A Market Engagement Framework for Developers and Builders." If you are interested in promoting and embracing this rising tide you may want to read this report. This report is a master's project completed by Jeff Martin, Brian Swett, and Doug Wein, authors.

A theme carried through the report is that partnerships should be formed to advance this RISING TIDE. Some of the ideas Martin, et al discuss are forming partnerships with professionals who share aligned interests in the green building industry. Potential benefits come from collaborative advertising efforts, shared training programs and leveraging skills of the "many stakeholders of the homebuilding value chain." They direct attention to the success of the Energy Star program which has been so successful by partnering with a variety of professionals in the industry. I am proud to say my company is an Energy Star partner.

I was honored to be asked a few months ago to join a similar group of professionals in Grand Rapids called Certified Energy Efficient.

This unique group of individuals has formed a "mastermind" group of professionals from a variety of fields who pursue similar interests in the industry. We meet twice a month as well as by phone when issues arrive. This serves not only as a great resource and referral network; this is a tremendous resource for the consumers who may have issues beyond the scope of the professional who was initially called. Our team seeks to remedy a situation in a home keeping in mind the home is a system. For instance, I may do a site evaluation and find there are energy leaks I can't identify. I will ask Gary or Sam to help me identify those problems and suggest a solution.

I would like to suggest we think of this industry as a system...much like the tidal waters. What I do raises the tide, what you do raises the tide.

"A Rising Tide Raises All Boats."

In the spirit of promoting the industry we come together as a system. As such we create a tide. That tide will raise your boat, my boat, the consumer's boat and the industry as a whole.

As we navigate down this stream together let us be like the THREE Musketeers...

All for ONE

and ONE for ALL!!!

This is a wild journey we are on!!!

Keep the SPIRIT!!!

As JaneAnne says,

Green is Lucky and RED Hot!!!

and I am Lucky to know you!!!!

From one good Irishman....to you....

                                                                                                                                                                       Erin Go Braugh!!!!

**home rendering courtesy of GreenLife Homes, LLC and Marla Bruemmer