Green Built Schools vs. Bottled Water. Which is GREENER?
Tuesday night was our Monthly BIA dinner and Janice and I were looking forward to it. We were excited because they had scheduled a keynote speaker from the Washington Policy Center to address the group on the future of green building in Washington. As one of only 10 Earth Advantage certified realtors in Washington, I have been disappointed in the small amount of sustainable building projects in Clark County and I was eager to hear what the folks up in Olympia were going to do help us catch up with our friends across the river in Portland.(The Greenest City in America!)
As the speaker approached the podium, (I am intentionally not using names here for obvious reasons) he proudly placed a bottle of Arrowhead water next to the microphone stand. I am thinking to myself, "Yeah! We're planning on going after those landfill filling petroleum based..."
But wait?
Did I hear him correctly? Did he just say that this is one of the "Greenest" achievements of the past several years? He did! He went on to explain in detail how the new bottle design is using less plastic than the past designs. This makes perfect sense to him. He never mentioned the rate at which landfills are filling up. The plain fact that the bottle is made from a petroleum based material was never mentioned until some one from the audience asked him about it.
His next topic was a national survey of green built schools. He quickly informed us that studies indicate that previous green built schools were a failure and that on average those schools use 30% more energy than non green built schools. No facts. No charts. No support. He just threw it out there and surmised, while rolling his eyes and smirking (o.k. well, maybe I imagined the rolling eyes and smirking. I was furious by this time!), that that it had something to do with the fact that green built schools use too many windows to allow in nature light and therefore the heating and cooling bills were driving up the power bills. End of story!
He concluded that the residents of Washington need more smart design ideas like the bottled water and less ideas like green built schools! When asked what incentives they were considering to help boost the green building industry he indicated that there weren't any at this time and they are still studying the situation.
The sad part of the story is that we have been behind the curve with these projects since the beginning. The builders in our group need guidance in order to be able to make it through to the next generation of building. Our friend from the Washington Policy Center didn't do anything to help us get there.
As real estate agents in Vancouver Washington, Janice and I strongly feel that it is important to support the other industries that work in and around us. Almost since the day we earned our licenses we have been members of our local building industry association. Our passion has always been green building and sustainable living. We have just volunteered to be part of the newly created Green Building Committee with the Building Industry Association of Clark County.
When you choose us to handle your Vancouver Washington real estate needs, you choose a team of realtors® who care about you and your family. Buying or selling a home is always more enjoyable when you work with professionals who will listen to your needs and who will work together with you to achieve your objective. We are very familiar with all types a real estate in Clark County and we specialize in Vancouver, Ridgefield and Battle Ground. We are also very experienced with new home and custom home construction having assisted several local builders in selling new neighborhoods in the Vancouver Washington area. Additionally, we have helped numerous families build their own Vancouver Washington dream homes. We are dedicated to helping you make intelligent, informed decisions and to providing you with exceptional service. Go to www.ernw.org for more information. See our video here.
Comments(2)