Sustainable Green Development

Put simply-if going green isn’t profitable why would developers do it? The easy answer is they wouldn’t. One of the biggest fundamental flaws in the green building discussion is that green building costs more and is less profitable. Our goal is to help you design projects that are profitable AND green. Yes, you can be profitable and green at the same time, they are not mutually exclusive. Read more

Green Business Practices Initiatives & Eco Charters

Going Green for a business is considered by many business owners to be a cosmetic move, a show of corporate social responsibility with few financial benefits and an increase in spending with little ROI. A recent survey - the 2008 SHRM Green Workplace Survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management offers current statistics to disprove this. According to the results of the survey, only 50% of the surveyed organizations had a formal or informal policy or a green business guide regulating their Environmental Policies.

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Plastic bad for you & the environment - going No Plastic Please!

Living close to San Diego’s coast and surfing for fun I see the effects of plastic pollution regularly. So as a green building and life style consultant for businesses and homeowners but most importantly a dad who wants the best earth for his child to live in, how could I not comment on this topic - Plastic!

It’s no secret that the overuse of plastic in our world is one of the most dangerous aspects to climate change/deteriorating health of the planet/people.

The 2 main reasons for this are simple: Read more

What is an ‘eco life’?

The simple definition of ‘ecolife‘ is living a life where you are aware of your impact on the planet. A life where you make choices to reduce your impacts and support companies/products/people that do likewise. Obviously that is not a perfect definition but that’s my humble opinion at 7:24am on a Saturday morning the day before my daughter’s third birthday.

When my daughter, Kaya, is my age the planet is going to probably look a lot different. It sure looks different than when I was a kid. Growing up, you could eat snow, go in the ocean after a rain, and ski until May. I remember one of my fondest memories was sitting outside of my grandmother’s house in the rain and tasting the rain as it fell from the sky. I was 5. Can you imagine that now? Read more

Sustainability and making eco green lifestyle choices

The Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of sustainable development: “Environmental protection does not preclude economic development and that economic development must be ecologically viable now and in the long run”.

U.S General Services Administration’s definition of sustainable design: “Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance. The basic objectives of sustainability are to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste and create healthy, productive environments”. Read more

Measuring Sustainability

As an eco-consultant, I am often asked by clients about how companies connect sustainability and green business initiatives to show that these measures result in real financial advantage. It is an obvious concern for any business focused on the bottom line. For a business, every action must have a proportionate change in its net profits and the impact of putting green business practices in place should be no different. In fact, ‘profit’ is one of the 3 principles of sustainability and plays an important role in whether or not more companies would get into the ‘green business club’.

But it is a complex question because, for one, the immediate effect of green business practices can be an increase in costs, albeit a marginal one if at all. Secondly, green business tips abound on the Internet and through green business guides and following them leads to more than one benefit in different areas. It is a task melding those benefits into a cohesive form. Read more

What ‘Green’ elements do homebuyers want?

Real estate development is and always has been one of the most profitable businesses globally – there is only so much earth to build upon and with world population growing daily, demand and supply used to be enough to take care of profits. But unmitigated construction and lack of environmentally friendly real estate are a potent combination leading to reduced natural resources. The current need of environmentally friendly home building and green development have never been more paramount.

Gerald Hines, Chairman of Hines, a privately held real estate firm with locations nation wide, says, “Green Development is good for business. Tenants, owners, purchasers and brokers are all becoming more sophisticated and are realizing the financial and social benefits of green product”. This may seem contrary to the popular view on green building development, that it costs more and cuts into a developer’s profits. But with awareness and demand for environmentally friendly real estate growing, it will once again be the forces of demand and supply that ensure profits for a builder. Read more

Living green in the real world

Learning to live green is a process. You don’t simply wake up one morning and you’re Ed Begley Jr. Even he wasn’t Ed Begley Jr. the environmentalist for 20 years. Living green is a process in which you take small, incremental steps everyday to leave less of an impact on our world. It means conserving water, energy, and using the power of your dollar wisely, etc.

The areas you can make daily changes are: Read more

What is LEED?

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is an organization dedicated to sustainable building practices. USGBC created a national rating system for developing high-quality and sustainable buildings known as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). LEED committees develop their rating systems through a consensus-based process. Each Committee is a diverse sample of experts who are representative of all professions in the building and construction industry. Read more

Green Incentives

Green Incentives

Nationwide, many local governments and groups are offering a wide range of incentives to go green. Cities all around America are doing what they can. For example, Read more