Eric Michael Stitt, a journalist for The Beach Reporter, very kindly featured our house tours event in the Hermosa Beach section of the paper this week: http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2012/02/16/hermosa_beach_news/news09.prt
We also wanted to make sure the other key sponsors of the event, the U.S. Green Building Council/South Bay Branch and Energy Upgrade California,
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We want to express our sincere appreciation to all of you for making Saturday a huge success. The event was booked solid a week in advance and over 200 people came out for tours and the educational expo. We had to turn people away to ensure the safety of everyone
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We would like everyone to know that all four tours (of 35 people ea) on Saturday have sold out! You are still welcome to come and see the energy upgrade displays and get your name on the stand-by list for the tours.
If there are no openings on Saturday’s tours and
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The U.S. Green Building Council, Energy Upgrade CA and Leadership Hermosa Beach have asked us to give a series of construction tours on February 11th. The tours will showcase the innovative technologies that make the Green Idea House net zero energy, zero carbon and responsive to the environment in terms
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It is not nearly done; but what do you think?
The U.S. Green Building Council, Energy Upgrade CA and Leadership Hermosa Beach have asked us to give a series of construction tours on February 11th. The tours will start at noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm and will be followed by a networking/ green networking event at one of the local
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We were given permission to turn on our 6.5kw solar array this week. That means that our LED holiday lights (adorned with ornaments that we made from the scrap metal leftovers from our stucco contractor) and the electric power tools that we are using on site are now offset by
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Many thanks to Gary Klein for sharing his genius with us yesterday. In two hours Gary took us through all the water related systems that are so crucial for us in hitting our net zero energy goals.
Gary is great at debunking myths about things like tankless water heaters and solar
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Gary Klein, one of the country’s leading experts in hot water technologies, will be visiting the construction site and leading a group discussion. We have invited officials from the city, other experts in the field and manufacturers and contractors who could benefit from the wealth of Gary’s expertise. The tour
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The thermal envelope of our building is what separates the interior from the exterior in terms of moisture, air, heat and cold. It is critical to the overall performance of the building and getting us to our net zero goals. It also ensures that the building is comfortable and is
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Now that he is back from Japan, Robert hopes to get caught up on his postings! The first is a video clip taken from the November City Council meeting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQqizZ02Vik
GIH updates to the City Council include:
Steel vs. Wood
Certified vs Non-certified wood
Low V.O.C. vs. Low Toxicity
Reuse vs New
View vs. Solar Panels
On Wednesday, a video production crew from Ogilvy Advertising came to interview us re our choice to use SolarWorld PV panels on the GIH. Their Marketing Manager, Minnie Dimesa and the Ogilvy team made the whole thing fun. We look forward to seeing what they make of it!
AOL’s Patch Press service published an article on the Green Idea House this morning: http://hermosabeach.patch.com/articles/hermosas-greenest-house-of-them-all Eric Farrell, the Hermosa Beach Patch reporter, did a very nice job summarizing the conversation we had last week.
On a related note, we will be giving one of our periodic construction updates to City Council
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Robert just returned from a week of lecturing at the international innovation school in Denmark, Kaos Pilot. The students and faculty there know of his interest in all things sustainable and Denmark is a haven for all things sustainable. Therefore, every time he goes to visit they take him on
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Amber Keenoy, the highly respected green building consultant and estimator very kindly mentioned the Green Idea House in an excellent article that is part of her weekly series: http://gogreenamericatv.com/global-green-sustainable-buildings/
Yesterday’s paper printed our letter (http://tinyurl.com/3e3jtb4) combined with a response from one of the uphill neighbors in the article from Saturday’s front page (http://tinyurl.com/3lketza). We are glad to see the neighbors are starting to understand that our solar array will be BELOW the height limit and we are building in
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Some of you may have noticed us driving a funny little car lately (see photo). It is a fully electric local use vehicle (LUV) and was lent to us by one of our partners, the South Bay Environmental Services Center. You can find out more about the benefits of these
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The latest crop of students from the Youthbuild program came for a tour last week. YouthBuild is an excellent program that gives at-risk inner city kids the opportunity to finish school and learn a trade at the same time. Graduates of the program have worked on the GIH and have
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Yesterday about 20 Southern California Edison Energy Efficiency Interns came to the GIH for a construction site tour. They were very interested and asked great questions. Doug Morino and Robert Casillas from the Daily Breeze also joined the group and got their piece published in today’s paper: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_18457632
Watching Bill McDonough’s expanded version of his TED talk at the Dwell conference Friday night was extraordinary. He is one of the key sources of inspiration for the Green Idea House.
Ed took the stage Sunday afternoon with a vigor and clarity that was masked in the nature of his “living
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Read about it in Eric Michael Stitt’s Beach Reporter article published this week.
Many thanks to the Easy Reader reporter Rebecca Zisser for a great article. During the tour she was very engaged, asked great questions and ultimately turned in a wonderful report. Thank you for your interest in spreading the word.
P.S. One small correction: “Fortunato first became interested in green technology
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We really appreciated the opportunity to be in the Water and Energy Expo in the morning and on the EPN Green and Solar house tour circuit in the afternoon.
We were impressed by the interested and engaged group that showed up. Thanks to all our friends (old and new) that
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Eric Michael Stitt very kindly marked our first big milestone: Owners save 97.5 percent of razed home
We didn’t feel it was fair if we entered LA County’s Home Energy Makeover Contest, but you still have 15 days to submit your entry at: https://energyupgradeca.org/county/los_angeles/makeover_contest
The conference, Green Building: Legal and Regulatory Realities is on March 18, 2011 in Santa Monica, CA. A discount of $100 off your regular tuition rate is available when you register by phone using the code “FAC101” to 206-463-4400 or 800-574-4852.
Read more about the conference here: http://www.theseminargroup.net/brochures/11.GRNCA%20Brochure%20ni.pdf
Everyone knows that burning natural gas is less harmful than other fossil fuels, but the process of shale gas drilling is certainly not natural and certainly not less harmful. Watch this 60 minutes piece to understand how the push to extract it from the ground is contaminating drinking water and
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Hermosa Beach is hosting an event on Jan 26th. Find one near you. http://www.sbesc.com/programs/residential
The groundbreaking ceremony of the Green Idea House was covered by CBS news and the local press and can be seen at the following links:
CBS News a 6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfsYUiaWyc
CBS News at 11:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt660JF3R1A
Easy Reader:
http://www.easyreadernews.com/2010/10/news/hermosa-beach/ground-broken-innovative-house
The Daily Breeze”
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_16260936
Hermosa Beach Patch:
http://hermosabeach.patch.com/articles/green-idea-house-is-now-shovel-ready
Our ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday could not have gone better. Thank you all for your support which made that possible. With well over 100 people attending or stopping by, it was great seeing old friends and meeting new. Everyone from our Mayor, city council members, planning commissioners, key members
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