Featured Project

View the case study here.

Equity Residential - Seattle, WA
Project: Redmond Way

This 250-unit multifamily project in Redmond, which was developed by Equity Residential, achieved a 3-Star rating and 373 total points. This project was built on a previously developed site, is close to transit and was able to take advantage of existing infrastructure and reduce development of virgin sites. No turf grass was used on the site, and the landscaping is exclusively drought tolerant. All of the lighting in the units and common areas is provided by either compact fluorescent or LED lighting. To improve indoor air quality, extensive effort was made to control moisture infiltration in order to ensure better indoor air quality. Moisture control measures include installing a rainscreen, door pans with back dams, sill protection, threshold protection and a moisture test of wood prior to sealing in walls. This project also used Glidden low-VOC paints on all large interior surfaces.

Some of the many green features of the project include:

Site and Water Protection

• Built on an infill lot, close to transit
• Mixed-use development with street-level retail and restaurants
• Electric-vehicle charging station
• Light-colored roof installed to reduce urban heat island effect
• No turf grass installed
• Subsurface irrigation installed
• Dual flush toilets installed in all units, along with 1.5 GPM bathroom faucets
• Low-flow showerheads, kitchen faucets and bathroom faucets installed to reduce water and energy use

Energy Efficiency

• Advanced sealing of ducts using low-toxic mastic
• Used rigid insulation as thermal break in headers to reduce thermal bridging
• Insulated all hot water pipes and installed cold inlet heat traps on hot water heater
• Used compact fluorescent and LED lighting in all units and common areas
• Installed Energy Star refrigerator, dishwasher and washing machine in all units

Indoor Air Quality

• Building is a designated non-smoking building
• Used low-VOC paint for large interior surface areas
• Used low-VOC, low-toxic, water-based sealants and adhesives for tiling, framing, insulating and drywalling
• Used prefinished and ceramic tile flooring
• Installed sill protection on windows and doors
• Moisture tested wood prior to sealing in walls
• Installed rainscreen to control moisture

Material Use

• Source-separated construction waste for metal scraps, clean wood scraps, drywall, concrete/asphalt rubble and paint and achieved a 90-percent recycling rate
• Used panelized wall construction for framing to conserve materials
• Installed recycling stations on each floor
• No use of vinyl on siding or exterior trim
• Reduced interior walls through open plan for kitchen, dining and living areas to conserve materials and increase interior daylight

Photos courtesy of Francis Zera.

To see other previously featured virtual tours, click here.

MBA & BG News

Seeking interested folks for new Built Green Events Committee!
Built Green is looking for 5-6 people interested in being a part of a new Built Green Events Committee for 2012! There is much knowledge to be shared among our Built Green builders and associates, and with the help of the Events Committee, we’d like to organize more events this coming year to enable networking, idea sharing and the sharing of lessons learned among our members in the green building world. Tentatively, we’d like to organize quarterly events with the format (e.g. happy hour, lunch "learns") and general event logistics to be handled by the committee. If interested in being a part of the 2012 Built Green Events Committee, please e-mail or call (425) 460-8238. Thanks! We’re looking forward to an exciting year for Built Green!

Looking To Hire?
Master Builders Career Connection can help. Association members can now make jobs visible to targeted candidates in their area by listing employment opportunities for free on their new-and-improved website, MyCareerConnection.org, which is designed to connect students, educators and people within the construction industry with potential employers, scholarship opportunities, grant opportunities, relevant resources and classes and skills training. So take advantage of this great resource. Visit the site and click "Jobs" to set up your free account.

Member News

2012 Green Home Tour hosted by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild (NWEBG) is underway
People want to "do the right thing'" when it comes to remodels, retrofits and new construction but often times need to see "green" in action and how the benefits to people, planet and profit unite in everyday practice. To that end, the inaugural 2011 Green Home Tour hosted 28 sites and over 1,250 visitors with great success! This year we're planning to build on that success and make it bigger and better! There are four ways to participate:
1. Showcase Your Project (early bird deadline Jan 16, 2012)
2. Showcase Your Services/Products through Sponsorship
3. Volunteer Your Heart Out
4. Attend and Tell Your Friends to Attend
Contact Cate O'dahl, Event Lead (Seattle Chapter) at (425) 670-1342 or by email for more information.

Donate building materials to Habitat ReStore of East King County
Did you know that you can donate new and slightly used building materials, appliances, furniture and home furnishings to the recently opened Habitat ReStore in the East King County? Funds generated from the store are used to serve families and change lives. All proceeds go toward our mission of building simple, decent, affordable homes for hardworking, low-income families living on the Eastside and to divert tons of waste from the landfill.

New Certifications

Congratulations to:

E & H Construction for certifying their new single-family house at 4901 54th Ave. S. in Seattle as 4-Star Built Green.

Habitat for Humanity of South King County/Seattle for certifying their four new single-family townhomes at 2707, 2709, 2711 and 2713 S. Andover St. in Seattle as 3-Star Built Green.

Soleil LLC for certifying their two new single-family townhomes at 2204 and 2206 California Ave. SW in Seattle as 4-Star Built Green.

Greenleaf Construction Inc for certifying their two new single-family homes at 160 27th Ave. and 2100 Warren Ave. N. in Seattle as 3- and 4-Star Built Green.

Cedar Sound Building Co. LLC for certifying their new single-family house at 8917 12th Ave. NE in Seattle as 4-Star Built Green.

Equity Residential for certifying their new multifamily apartments at 16015 and 16095 Cleveland St. in Redmond as 3-Star Built Green.

Trends & Numbers

Monthly green-certified home sales statistics have been provided by Ben Kaufman of GreenWorks Realty from their ECert Report. The data covers King County and Seattle and compares homes with an environmental certification to those without based on sales price, square footage and time-on-market differences for homes built 2007 and later. The environmental certifications include Built Green, Northwest Energy Star Homes and LEED for Homes. The predominate certification in the region and in the report is Built Green.

Historic data shows certified homes in King County and Seattle sell at a higher price, are smaller in size and, in some instances, sell in shorter market time. The data represents a clear snapshot of the metropolitan green-home marketplace and has been referred to in studies and reports across the country and internationally.

GreenWorks Realty broker Ben Kaufman compiles the ECert Report based on Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) sales data. Visit the ECert Report for more information.

Click on the graph above to see a larger image.

Click on the graph above to see a larger image.

Click on the graph above to see a larger image.

Click on the graph above to see a larger image.

Click on the graph above to see a larger image.

Events

Seattle Greendrinks
Dec 13, Seattle
Founded in 2003, Seattle Greendrinks' main event remains a monthly informal social-networking gathering. This gathering remains the core of Seattle Greendrinks' work, and all are welcome to join us the second Tuesday of every month starting around 5:30 p.m. The goal of our group is pretty simple: to create a space that fosters connections and good times shared among people working in (or interested in) environmental and sustainability issues.

Classes

Classes listed below are approved workshops for fulfilling the annual Built Green education requirement for certifying projects.

Introduction to Built Green®
Dec 13 MBA Housing Center, Bellevue
This class will provide an introduction to the Built Green program. Learn how to certify a project, use the checklist, join, navigate the program and take advantage of our other resources. It also presents examples of Built Green projects and covers how to fill out the Built Green checklist. This orientation costs $30 and is required in order to certify homes as Built Green. Register here.

Workshop to Learn How & Why To Preserve & Weatherize Original Wood Windows, Doors & Architectural Details
Dec 10, Olympia
The City of Olympia Heritage Commission and Northwest EcoBuilding Guild have teamed up to bring you this valuable workshop on how to preserve, maintain and weatherize your historic wood windows, doors and architectural details. To register or find out more, visit EcoBuilding.org/events and look at Dec. 10 on the calendar. If you have questions, call (360) 754-6152.

Energy Auditing Fundamentals Online Seminar
Dec 12 and 13, online
This seminar covers all of the fundamental components of a complete, effective-energy audit. For more information, click here.

HVAC Design in A Time-Contrained World
Dec 13, Spokane
This class will focus on the information that contractors need to know to make homes more comfortable and meet the Version 3 ENERGY STAR Requirements. The training takes a contractor's view of HVAC design and outlines a process that recognizes the time and budget constraints of the new housing market. The topics of heat loss/heat gain, equipment selection, fan performance, duct design and register and grille selection will be covered. The class is designed for maximum audience participation including hands-on exercises. Click here for a flyer with further information about this training.

Energy Benchmarking Workshop
Dec 15, Seattle
This hands-on session will teach you how to benchmark your building’s energy performance using the free on-line tool ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager. Participants will also learn about the ordinance reporting requirements and new services available for automated benchmarking from Seattle City Light, Puget Sound Energy and Seattle Steam.

New Members

Are you a Built Green member and a member of the Master Builders Association? Then your company is designated with a small green tree on the Master Builders Association website as a Built Green member. Your company is also listed on the Built Green website.

Welcome to our newest member companies!

Farrow Homes LLC
(206) 937-7828 in Seattle

Insulators Depot
(425) 314-1343 in Everett

King County

Carpet Removal Best Practices
King County LinkUp recently facilitated a work group of local flooring industry representatives; recyclers that sort and process carpet; air quality and worker safety regulatory agencies; and other interested parties to assist in developing the 2011 Carpet Removal Best Practices for Carpet Recycling (Best Practices). The Best Practices were created to help ensure that carpet removed from buildings is suitable for recycling. The Best Practices provide flooring professionals with a tool to reduce contamination of recovered carpet and thus reduce the incidence of contaminated carpet delivered for recycling. The Best Practices is also the first known document that clearly lays out the air quality and worker safety regulatory requirements related to carpet removal, which protects workers, building owners/occupants and the environment.

Built Green is now on Twitter! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @built_green. It's a great way to network and keep up to date on Built Green, local events and the green building industry!

Our Program Director Aaron Adelstein is also on Twitter now @aadelstein.

Master Builders Association
335 116th Avenue SE
Bellevue, WA 98004
P: (425) 460-8238
F: (425) 646-5985
builtgreen@mbaks.com
www.builtgreen.net

Master Builders Association Calendar of Events
If you have news items for this newsletter, please send us an email. Click here for Directions to the Master Builders Association.