Green Homes in Olympia-Permit Friendly...

Reposted from Passive House Northwest Blog, posted by Albert Rooks 5.26.10 Passive House could move to the head of the line in Thurston County WA. Thanks to a Federal Grant, Certified Passive House Consultant Tessa Smith, and a host of others, along with Thurston County, There is a draft document circulating Thurston County that clears the way for Passive House and other green building method permit applications. The document recognizes Passive House by name. If adopted, the documents states: “This policy sets forth the process and procedures in reviewing a ...

Home Energy Efficiency Program...

reprinted from the Olympian Incentives to repair that leaky home Resources: Program examines house’s efficiency JOHN DODGE; Staff writer | • Published June 01, 2010 Olympia – Eli and Molly Levitt were among the first homeowners in Thurston County to sign up for a program to help area residents and businesses use energy wisely. When the couple bought a 1913 home nearly two years ago on Wilson Street in Olympia, they knew it wasn’t the most energy-efficient home around. They insulated the attic and basement, installed compact fluorescent ...

How to Select Green Cabinets...

Choosing what is actually green these days can be head-spinning, how can you always be certain that what you are choosing is the best option for you and the environment? For cabinet selection, here’s one good way to know if your cabinet of choice is sustainable:  The  Environmental Stewardship Program Seal (ESP) is an environmental certification program that specifically targets kitchen and bath cabinets, developed by The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA).  This Seal is what assures you that the manufacturing practices and materials used meet...

Passive House Training...

Passive House Training By Randy Foster, Owner, The Artisans Group I recently completed the first three days of training as a Certified Passive House Consultant last week.  During the first day of class, I was struck by the fact that there are a lot of really smart people studying the Passive House approach.  I was impressed by that, and I felt really honored to have been accepted into this year’s training program!  Each of the 25 students in my class seemed to fully grasp the fact that designing and building a Passive House is rooted in attention paid to many small...

Construction and Demolition Debris...

At The Artisans Group, we are always looking for ways to reduce our jobsite waste and to avoid putting anything in the landfill. For you DIY’ers out there, it may be useful for you to know some of our local resources where you can dispose of your project ‘waste’. Our Preferred Approach Recovery 1 Tacoma, WA (800) 949.5852 This one works great for construction site debris, but the scope of their work is much broader than just that. A pretty cool outfit, worth a look at their site. Reuse Building Materials To purchase materials for a project or to drop off...

FROGBOX-A Green Moving Alternative...

This is a notable Puget Sound resource I just read about in the Business Examiner, “FROGBOX Brings Totatable Alternatives to South Sound“. FROGBOX is a sustainable alternative to the resource-rich effort of moving. If you are are relocating your belongings whether from your home or business, FROGBOX supplies movers with plastic re-usable totes that can replace regular cardboard boxes. People can order the amount of boxes needed from the FROGBOX website, FROGBOX will then deliver the re-usable boxes to be filled by you and when ready, they will come back to...

Handwoven Rugs-Responsible Purchasing...

“Green” behaviour often means making responsible selections based on the impact to the environment. Equally as critical is the social impact on how a given product came to market. GoodWeave is a company that offers a Child-Labor-Free-Certification on handwoven rugs, which allows you to know at an instant that the product is a ’socially’ good choice. Beyond being socially responsible, the rugs are gorgeous! The rugs are either custom designed to your specs, or you can choose from a vast selection of designs that were created by a variety of...

Pioneers of Green Building...

I’m reposting this entry from Green By Design. It’s such a great reminder of the innovative and creative pioneers who have paved the way for us to design and build green in modern times. Thanks to them, we are not starting at ground-zero with green concepts but rather have some of the more exotic, if not rudimentary,  ideas tested and refined or dismissed wholesale as a good idea bad application. And really, who can resist the hanging treehouse that looks to have been built by an industrious prehistoric Silk Moth… check it out and enjoy! Zeta Lloyd...

New home for plastic foam...

Finally a local place to recycle your plastic foam containers! I read this article in the Olympian the other day and thought it was worth passing along. Enjoy! Zeta New home for plastic foam Recycle: Tumwater site takes stuff that was garbage JOHN DODGE; The Olympian | • Published November 09, 2009 TUMWATER – Add plastic foam products such as cups, plates and food take-out trays to the list of items that can be recycled in South Sound. Dart Container Corp., a Tumwater-based manufacturer of plastic foam food and beverage containers, has opened a drop box to accept...

Passive House (PHIUS) Concept & Sta...

Written by Tessa Smith, The Artisans Group, for The Nisqually River Foundation The Passive House (Passivhaus in German) concept was created in 1988 by Professor Bo Adamson and Doctor Wolfgang Feist, spurred on by their desire to positively affect climate change while decreasing reliance on a volatile energy market.  Their research combined existing energy efficiency technologies and concepts making Passive Houses the most energy efficient building system in the world.   Today Passive House certifications are administered by the Passive House Institute United States...