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Conover Commons Built Green Community

The Cottage Company: Conover Commons in Redmond
Conover Commons is a community of small cottages gathered around a central, shared courtyard. This community exemplifies cooperation between two member companies to achieve successful results in green building. The builder, The Cottage Company, worked with Triad Associates to situate the homes on the site to take advantage of the existing trees and topography, and maximize innovative storm water management design. One of the cottages was featured in a previous Built Green News, but the landscaping was not yet mature enough to showcase. Check out the virtual tour to see how this project combines the development aspects with Built Green homes in a popular housing style that sells quickly! Read more on the case studies page.

To see other previously featured virtual tours, click here. Virtual tours created by Northwest Property Imaging.

New Members

Big Trees Inc.
Transplanting & Sales

Cherry Valley Heating & Cooling
Earth Heat – Division of CHHC

First Exclusive Buyer Agent Inc.
I Have a 'Heart' to Be an Advocate for Homebuyers since 1981

Greener Lifestyles
Natural Home Furnishing, Natural Building Materials

JRJ Development
An Innovative Developer of In-city Seattle Neighborhood Properties

Tennyson Homes Inc.
A Tradition of Quality

WG Clark Construction Co.
Building Relationships through Quality Work…Since 1910

View our current members.

Events

Monday, June 6
Public Spaces, Public Life
Jan Gehl, founding partner Gehl Architects, is professor of urban design in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. He will speak Monday, June 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library Auditorium on Public Spaces, Public Life. With his leadership all 18 public squares in Copenhagen that had been parking lots have been turned back to public squares and pedestrian streets that thrive for walking, shopping and people-watching. More information

Thursday, June 9
The Fourth Annual BEST Awards ceremony will take place at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club on Thursday, June 9 from 7:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Keynote speaker will be Michael Braungart, world-renowned chemist and co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, and proponent of cradle-to-cradle design. RSVP to KaDeena Lenz at (206) 389-7302 or via email. More information

Thursday, June 9
Sustainability in Seattle: Lessons from Europe
The monthly luncheon of CREW (Commercical Real Estate Women) features a panel presentation that will be held June 9, 2005 from 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM at the Washington Athletic Club on 1325 Sixth Avenue in Seattle. What makes Europe the leader in sustainability and the United States a follower? Find out as Patricia Chase moderates a panel of four travelers who will talk about what they’ve seen, how their experiences are impacting their work in sustainability and how the collective experiences of those who traveled to Europe are impacting the development of "green building" projects in Seattle.

Monday, June 20
Seattle's Ecological Footprint: Present and Future will be presented by Dahlia Chazan on Monday, June 20 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library Auditorium. More information

Monday, June 20 - Thursday, June 23
EcoBuild America is offered by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council in Orlando, Florida, from June 20 to 23. This comprehensive conference and exhibition focusing on environmental systems technology will be held in conjunction with 12 other conferences and workshops addressing the built environment.

Monday, July 11
Green Development = Economic Development
Bert Gregory of Mithun and Dennis Wilde of Edlen Development will present Green Development=Economic Development on Monday, July 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library Auditorium. More information

Wednesday, July 13
Brown Bag lunch will be held at the PUD in Everett on Wednesday, July 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Green materials, job-site recycling and healthy materials will be the focus. Directions

Thursday – Saturday, July 14-16
The North American Rainwater Harvesting Conference will include two days of presentations, poster sessions, and exhibit displays at Seattle Center. There will be guided tours on Wednesday, July 13 and self guided tours on Saturday, July 16. More information

MBA Calendar of Events is posted at the bottom left of the homepage. For more information, contact James Cadungug at (425) 460-8213.

Land Conservancy

Cascade Land Conservancy
The largest gathering of conservationists in the state came together at a Cascade Land Conservancy (CLC) breakfast to honor local champions of conservation, and to witness the release of The Cascade Agenda, a vision, strategy and action plan to serve our region through the next century. The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBA) sponsored the New Directions for Livable Communities Award, which was presented to Starbucks Coffee Company for its Neighborhood Parks Program (call (206) 447-7950, ext. 53337 for more information). The Cascade Agenda resulted from dialogues with more than 3,500 people and discussed what the region would look like in 100 years without major land conservation. MBA Executive Officer Sam Anderson is on the agenda steering committee. Other Built Green members supporting the CLC include Polygon Northwest, Port Blakely Companies, Buck & Gordon LLP, Burnstead Construction Company, CamWest Development, Quadrant Homes and Puget Sound Energy.

Built Green Tailgates

Westhill Tailgates with Built Green
Westhill Inc. trucks sporting the Built Green logo were spotted at a jobsite (yes, we encourage our members to show their support)! This Built Green member company helped a local family gain greater access by building a donated wheelchair access ramp for six-year old twin boys diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The new ramp will provide physical relief for their father, who has carried the boys up and down stairs, and will enable the children to enter and exit the house on their own. Westhill also recruited several of its sub-contractors, friends and family members to conduct an in-kind makeover to the home, from landscaping to clean-up, painting and more. Ramps would normally cost between $3,000 to $5,000, but during Rampathon, MBA's annual ramp-building spree for low-income people in need of better access, all of the labor and materials are donated. Note: If you need a CD of Built Green logo files, please contact Amanda Reed at (425) 460-8238.

Green Travel

While shoring up your travel plans, you might want to consider some green options. Green Globe offers sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communities, with resorts and destinations all over the world. Our closest, Sadie Cove Wilderness Lodge, is an Alaskan eco-lodge on the rugged Kenai Coast -- self-supporting, off the grid and powered by silent, non-polluting wind and hydroelectric power. Vegetable gardens and indoor greenhouses supply the produce for the all-you-can eat meals of fresh wild seafood and other Alaskan favorites.

From the Director

A Huge Thanks to King County
King County, a partner with the Master Builders Association in establishing the Built Green program, is truly outstanding in its commitment to the local residents – the human kind as well as the animal and vegetable kind.

Our forward-thinking county executive, Ron Sims, has fostered cooperation among the building industry, environmental groups and various departments within county government to achieve such successes as the Built Green program and the Snoqualmie Ridge Built Green community. Sims established the county’s Green Building Initiative that promotes green building practices in all county buildings, one of the first in the country to do so. He also launched the Low Impact Development/Built Green Ordinance to promote environmental protection and affordable housing, with three demonstration projects in the works.

The county’s website provides one of the most comprehensive jurisdictional environmental resources anywhere on the planet with links to more than one hundred topics and issues. One can learn how to restore salmon habitat, recycle grass clippings or food waste, dispose of hazardous materials, reduce stormwater runoff, procure recycled products, or find out more about watersheds, flooding, land management, control noxious weeds, preserve farms, what happens to wastewater…well, you get the idea.

The Built Green partnership has been recognized nationally. In 2003, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) named Built Green as the best new residential green building program in the U.S. Last year, Built Green received the Best Home Builder Association Partnership award from NAHB based on Master Builders' continuing partnership with the two counties.

Support from King County has enabled Built Green to offer educational outreach in the form of training seminars for realtors, an annual conference on green home building, this newsletter, a website, printed materials for the program, and homeowner kits to Built Green builders among many others. We applaud the county for its efforts to make our region one of the leaders in green building in the U.S.!

Robin Rogers, Program Director

Product Spotlight

Filter Your Air and Water
The Nikken Air Wellness Power5 combines advanced air filtration with negative ion generation and aromatherapy technology with its five-stage air filtration that incorporates all major air filtering technologies including HEPA filtration. The PiMag Water System is the only drinking water system with microfine ultrafiltration magnetic technology and pi using a combination of four advanced technologies available only from Nikken. For further information please contact Robert F. Anderson at (425) 785-0984 or via email.

For information on how to list your "green" products* in this space, please contact MBA Sales & Marketing Director Pam Worner by phone at (425) 460-8217, or via email.
*Products must be able to meet at least one Built Green credit (see the four Built Green checklists on our website) to qualify, and the company must be a member-in-good-standing of Built Green.

Low Impact Development

LID Seminar

Low Impact Development
Last month Built Green hosted a seminar on low impact development (LID) attended by one hundred industry professionals -- primarily planners, developers and engineers. Developed by member company Triad Associates, the all-day seminar presented the critical issues surrounding LID such as site planning, on-site infiltration, legal considerations, and jurisdictional and regional challenges. Faculty included Built Green members from Associated Earth Sciences, Weber + Thompson Architects, and CamWest Development among others. Speaker Eric Campbell of CamWest pointed out that while LID can increase costs, developments that incorporate LID carry a premium because they offer visible benefits to homeowners such as greenbelts and privacy – benefits that homeowners are also willing to pay for. CamWest has been developing an LID/Built Green community in Renton as part of King County’s initiative to promote both environmental protection and affordable housing. Basic LID combines the natural amenities of the site with developed features of the site to reduce or eliminate stormwater runoff.

Further information on LID: Low Impact Development Center in Maryland

See the Built Green Communities Checklist for specific ideas related to LID.

News

State DNR Forests become SFI Certified
State forests in western Washington are now certifiably green, as the Washington State Department of Natural Resources signed up with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, or SFI, a program of the American Forest and Paper Association. Of the department’s 2.1 million acres, 1.4 million acres in western Washington now are SFI-certified. A more stringent certification of sustainable forests is offered by the Forest Stewardship Council, and the state will reconsider adopting this in the fall. Built Green offers fewer points for using SFI wood than FSC wood. EcoTimber offers several reports about both programs on its website, including a comparative analysis of SFI versus FSC certification.

Seattle Offers Incentives for Green Multifamily
If you are building a multifamily project in the city of Seattle, check out the generous incentives to make it green! 2005 Built Green Incentive Program Description. For further information, contact Peter Dobrovolny of Seattle City Light at (206) 615-1094.

Tax Deduction

Tax Deduction for Hybrid Vehicles
Hybrid vehicles remain eligible for a "clean fuel" federal income tax deduction of $2,000 if placed in service by the end of 2005, or $500 for those put in use during 2006. Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Accord Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Insight and Toyota Prius are listed as approved vehicles by the IRS. Our MBA president, Donna Shirey of Shirey Contracting, now has a Ford Escape Hybrid after seeing one on display at the Built Green conference in March! Jeff Davenport of Ford of Bellevue can help answer questions regarding Ford’s hybrid SUV, which averages about 30 miles per gallon.

BG Member News

SeaGull Lighting has been named 2005 Energy Star Partner of the Year by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy! Built Green member
J N G Sales represents SeaGull Lighting’s entire line of energy-efficient fixtures. For further info email or call (206) 282-1518.

Each year Velocipede Architects donates one percent of its profits to organizations working towards sustainable development; this year’s contributions went to seven different groups.

Alexander Lighting has a new showroom and design studio in SODO at the corner of Eighth Avenue South and South Lander Street in Seattle.

Courses

See the MBA University Spring/Summer Education Catalog for a Full List of MBAU Courses. Email or call (425) 460-8238 for information or to register.

Tuesday, July 12
Introduction to Built Green
This free seminar provides an introduction to the Built Green ™ program from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 12 at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue. Learn how to certify a project, find out what “green” means, how the Built Green program works and other resources. The seminar presents examples of projects and covers how to fill out the Built Green checklist. This seminar fulfills the course requirement to certify homes as Built Green. For further information contact us at (425) 460-8238 or via email.

Saturday, June 11
Introduction to Green Remodeling Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is offering a free green home remodeling class Saturday, June 11 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at University Library. SPU’s green home remodel guides are available online. RSVP and questions can be emailed to Thor Peterson. More information.

King County

Salvaged building materials from King County deconstruction projects

King County capital improvement projects are saving money on demolition disposal costs while decreasing the amount of valuable resources that end up in the landfill. In June 2004, King County established a contract for salvageable building materials with the RE Store, a non-profit used building materials store in Seattle. Under this agreement, the RE Store has salvaged over 14 tons of reusable building materials to date from county renovation and demolition projects that would have otherwise gone to the landfill.

The salvaged building materials contract was established by the King County WasteWise program. WasteWise promotes waste prevention, recycling collection and purchasing of recycled products for county facilities. For more information about WasteWise or the King County salvaged building materials contract, contact Tom Watson at (206) 296-4481.

Snohomish County

Brown Bag Lunch Planned Members of the Sustainable Development Task Force are available to give presentations on sustainable building and growth to local jurisdictions or organizations around the county. The task force is also sponsoring another Brown Bag lunch at PUD in Everett on Wednesday, July 13 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The focus will be on green materials, job-site recycling and healthy materials. Plus, read about the greening of Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream, one of the projects SDTF.

NOTE: If you are interested in hosting the portable, professionally designed information kiosk or interested in joining the task force, please call Chris Fate at (425) 783-8274.

Snohomish PUD

Energy Efficiency for Businesses
Snohomish County PUD business customers can take advantage of the utility's energy efficiency incentive program, which provides funds for energy conservation improvements. Businesses benefit by increasing system reliability, lowering maintenance costs and contributing to higher productivity. Measures funded include lighting controls and fixtures, HVAC equipment, compressed air systems, refrigeration, motors, pumps and fans. For more information, call the PUD at (425) 783-8290 or visit its website.

Further Reading

Jerry Yudelson, author of the popular book The Insider’s Guide to Marketing Green Buildings, was generous enough to provide a copy of this useful guide to the Built Green library. So, the next time you’re in the MBA Members’ Center, you can check out the great information that he gleaned from many surveys and data on green buildings. Yudelson also works for Interface Engineering.

Look for the May/June issue of eco-structure magazine, which features a story about our Built Green program with lots of photos of some familiar local Built Green projects. A beautifully produced periodical, eco-structure focuses on all types of green buildings.

Green Design
A selection of projects demonstrating the complexity of sustainable (primarily graphic) design is featured in the May/June issue of Communication Arts magazine – an industry standard.

Contact Built Green

Master Builders Association
335 - 116th Avenue SE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Directions
Phone (425) 460-8238
Fax (425) 646-5985
builtgreen@mbaks.com

MBA Calendar of Events

If you have news items for this newsletter, please send us an email.