Built Green Conference

Save-the-Date for the 2006 Built Green™ Conference!
Save the date for our annual Built Green™ Conference on Thursday, March 16, 2006 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. We are pleased to announce Sarah Susanka as our keynote speaker.

Susanka is a nationally renowned architect, speaker and author of "The Not So Big House". Her "build better, not bigger" approach to residential architecture has been embraced by homeowners, architects and builders across the country, and has sparked a national dialogue. As a leading advocate for the re-popularization of residential architecture, Susanka has improved the quality of home design while countering the elitist image of architects so commonly held by the public.

Next year's conference will also include a green products and company tradeshow, numerous educational workshops on green building, design, marketing and more!
More information on the conference program, educational sessions and registration details will be made available at the start of the new year.

Sponsorship opportunities are available! For information on how to sponsor the Built Green Conference, please contact MBA Sales & Marketing Director Pam Worner by phone at (425) 460-8217, or via email.

New Members

Are you a Built Green member and a member of the Master Builders Association? Then your company will be designated in the Master Builders Association Directory as a Built Green member. Your company is also listed on the Built Green website.

Welcome to our newest member companies!

Acappella Design
Custom Architectural Mosaics

American Engineering Corporation
Civil Engineering, Land Use Planning, Land Surveying

Black Dog Woodworks LLC
Hand Built Custom Cabinetry & Furniture

The Frause Group
Public Relations, Marketing, and Business Analysis

Green Fiber
Cocoon Simply Smarter Insulation

Indigo Enterprises LLC
Fine Home Remodeling & Construction

Jill Harwood Realtor, Coldwell Banker Bain Assoc.
(206) 275-6000, Mercer Island

M F Williams Construction Co. Inc.
(509) 962-8558, Ellensburg

Out of this World Fine Finishes
Decorative Painting, Faux Finish, Custom Hand-Painted Furniture
(425) 896-0309, Kirkland

RAS Contracting Corp.
The Definitive Solution
(509) 728-1536 in Selah

Shults Construction Inc.
Northwest Style Homes

SmartBuilt Homes Inc.
Smart Technology. Smart Choice.

Starrow Enterprises Inc.
The Standard of Architectural Elegance

SV Greso Inc.
Septic Pumping

Toucan Teak LLC
Teak Wood Flooring From Certified Forests

WIH Resource Group LLC
Solid Waste Management & Logistical Solutions

View our current members.

Events

Visit the Built Green Washington website for green home building courses and events across the State of Washington.

Monday, November 7
Energy Star® Homes Builder Breakfast
Please join Energy Star Homes Northwest for a complimentary breakfast on from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 7 in Everett, and learn how your customers can benefit from the most energy efficient homes available today. You'll learn how to differentiate yourself in the market, reduce callbacks, and build your business with Energy Star. For more information and to register, contact Beth Shuck at (877) 298-2172 or via email.

Thursday, November 10
Northwest Natural Resource Group Fundraiser
Please join the Northwest Natural Resource Group and Windfall Lumber for an open house and fundraiser at Olympia's first sustainable lumberyard. The celebration on from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10 will benefit the Northwest Natural Resource group, a non-profit committed to furthering sustainable forestry for small landowners in the Pacific Northwest. RSVP to (360) 352-2250 or via email. Click here for directions.

Thursday, December 1
NBIS Business Leaders Forum
Join the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (NBIS) for their inaugural season of the 2005-06 Business Leaders Forum. The next event, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, will feature Martin Tobias, CEO and Chairman of Seattle Biodiesel and a Venture Partner in Ignition Partners; and John Plaza, President and Founder of Seattle Biodiesel. They will be speaking on "Eco-Entrepreneurs and Green Venture Capitalists--a new recipe for success in the bioregion?" This event will explore the landscape of possibilities for "green" economic development from the perspective of both "eco-entrepreneurs" and "green" financiers.

The cost is $20 for NBIS members; $30 for non-members (continental breakfast included). Click here to purchase tickets online. For more information, contact NBIS Co-Director Mary Rose at (425) 828-0982 or via email.

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

Courses

Visit the Built Green Washington website for green home building courses and events across the state of Washington.

Friday, November 18, Bellevue New Date
Built Green™ Sales Boot Camp
A great class for real estate professionals!
Not sure how to effectively tap into the growing market for green homes? A more advanced and practice-intensive course than the previously offered "Tapping the Green in Built Green™ Homes," this course will help perfect your green sales pitch. You'll review the basics of green building; develop and practice your green sales pitch; define your target market and sales approach; and practice with sales scenarios. This course will be held from 8 a.m. to noon on Friday, Nov. 18 at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue. The cost of the course is $100 for members of the MBA and $125 for non-members. Built Green credit. For further information or to register, contact Built Green via email or at (425) 460-8208.

Recommended Reading

If you would like more information on green building, resources for related green industries and environmental business news, check out these other newsletters.

GreenBuzz is a weekly newsletter from GreenBiz.com with the latest environmental and sustainable business news straight from the headlines, and an excellent list of resources on the web. View the newsletter.

Our Planet…environmental newsletter is a weekly newsletter written by E/The Environmental Magazine. They feature original news articles on the environment, as well as tips for green living.

The Weekly Grist from Grist Magazine is a an environmental newsletter put together by a talented and very funny local group of writers. They compile the latest headlines and deliver them with a punch line.

Product Spotlight

Vida Grandis™ Flooring from the Environmental Home Center is a solid, durable, tropical hardwood flooring made from Eucalyptus Grandis grown in Argentina. The wood species has a Janka Scale rating of 1,150, softer than red oak and slightly harder than teak. Vida Grandis™ flooring is made of wood sourced from plantations certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. This means the forests are being managed in a way that ensures long-term productivity and protects local cultures, economies, wildlife, soils, recreation and other uses.

Vida Grandis™ flooring ranges in color from brown to pink to gold. It comes in 1- to 3-foot lengths, 3.5-inch width, with tongue-and-groove on all edges. This flooring is a great example of a green product priced much lower than its non-FSC certified competitor, Lyptus. For more information about Vida Grandis™ flooring, contact the Environmental Home Center.

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.

New Certifications

Congratulations to: Lozier Homes at Woodside LLC for certifying 89 3-star Built Green Single-Family projects at Woodside Walk in Mill Creek; M1 Dezine for certifying a 3-star Built Green Remodel project in Kirkland; and Nandemoya Inc. for certifying a 2-star Built Green Remodel project in Bellevue.

Member News

Built Green member Greenworks Realty has launched a new website design which now includes a listing of green homes and a great resources section on green living, business, building and design.

If you are a member of Built Green and have news you would like to share with our readers, please email your announcement to Built Green.

New Cradle to Cradle

Cradle to Cradle™ Certification Launched
McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) has announced the opening of its new Cradle to Cradle™ Certification program. Within the certification process, MBDC evaluates a material or product's ingredients and the complete formulation for human and environmental health impacts throughout its lifecycle and its potential for being truly recycled or safely composted. Certification of a finished product also requires the evaluation of energy-use quantity and quality (i.e., relative proportion of renewable energy), water-use quantity, water-effluent quality and workplace ethics associated with manufacturing. If a candidate material or product is found to achieve the necessary criteria, it is certified as a Silver, Gold or Platinum product or as a Technical/Biological Nutrient (a classification available for homogeneous materials or less complex products).

For more information and to view certified products, visit the certification program's website.

Awards, Call for Entries

NAHB Green Building Awards
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) invites home builders, remodelers, developers, nonprofits, government officials, academics, industry experts and other involved in green building efforts to submit entries for the 2006 National Green Building Awards. These prestigious awards honor those entities that have demonstrated a tangible commitment and contribution to the principles of residential "green building." Award entrants are eligible to submit applications for awards in the areas of green building programs, green built projects and marketing products for the advocacy of "green building" construction. Entries must be submitted by Friday, Dec. 23, 2005. The 2006 Green Building Awards will be presented at the 2006 National Green Building Conference held March 12 to 14, 2006 in Albuquerque, NM. For more information about the awards and applications, see NAHB's website.

Change a Light...

Energy Star® Change a Light, Change the World Campaign
Energy Star is asking Americans to pledge to change one light at home to energy efficient lighting. Collectively, this simple change can make a big difference. If every household in the U.S. changed out just one light to one that has earned the Energy Star rating, we would save enough energy to light 7 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those emitted by 1 million cars.

Special suggestions: If you can't do one light in an area you use every day, how about two or three in garages, walkways, closets and outdoors? A large lighting store, such as Seattle Lighting will have a wide selection of energy efficient Energy Star bulbs that give off a pleasing light. Take the Energy Star Change a Light Pledge at the website, and put your pledge on the map!

New BG Director

Built Green is excited to announce the hiring of our new Executive Director, Aaron Adelstein. Most recently, Adelstein worked for the Environmental Home Center, providing green building materials to building professionals of the northwest. He looks forward to working with the dedicated members, community partners and sponsors of Built Green, helping it to grow, adding value to builders, and ultimately the communities of King and Snohomish counties.

King County

King County's New Built Green™ Incentive
Built Green projects achieving a 5-star rating in unincorporated King County are now eligible for free project management during the permit process. The project manager from the Department of Development and Environmental Services provides customers with a single point of contact during permit review, enhancing service levels, efficiency and predictability for the permit applicant. Free technical consulting on Built Green is also available every Tuesday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the DDES Permit Center. To learn more, or to find out if your project qualifies for the Built Green incentive, contact Katie Spataro via email or at (206) 263-6037.

Puget Sound Energy

Want to stay up to date on Puget Sound Energy's rebate programs? Sign up for PSE's Energy at Home e-newsletter. This quarterly e-newsletter provides the latest information on new programs, rebate offers and PSE related events. Join more than 10,000 PSE customers who depend on Energy at Home to stay current on PSE offerings. To subscribe to Energy at Home please e-mail ryan.lebaron@pse.com.

Resources

The Resource Venture
The Resource Venture provides free, technical assistance to all Seattle businesses on waste prevention and recycling, water conservation, stormwater pollution prevention and sustainable building. Their Sustainable Building Assistance service is a great resource for Built Green members. They offer a number of consultation services for assisting you in achieving a Built Green certification. For more information visit their website at www.resourceventure.org and go to their "Technical Assistance" listing on their "Services" page. To set up a consultation, please call (206) 389-7304 or via email.

Contact Built Green

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

Master Builders Association Calendar of Events

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