Featured Home

This month's featured home is a 4-Star Built Green home at Shamrock Heights, a Built Green community in Renton developed by CamWest. The environmental features of the project started with progressive, low impact development and wastewater mitigation strategies such as rain channels, perforated curbs along the streets and a restored wetland. CamWest carried the green land planning ethic through to the construction of the homes as well.

The homes meet the qualifications of the Energy Star Homes Northwest program, and feature high efficiency dishwashers, hot water heaters and furnaces. No polyvinylchloride (PVC) was used in the plumbing of the homes, and low toxic paints, mortars and grouts were used in the interiors. Outdoor living areas such as front porches and patios, as well as a beautiful community park foster a neighborhood feel not commonly found in modern developments. For more information on this home's green features, view the case study here or see CamWest's community brochure online in PDF format here.

To see other previously featured virtual tours, click here.

Virtual tours created by Northwest Property Imaging.

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!

Forrest Sound
Where nature meets function.
(425) 591-6204 in Bellevue

C D B General Contactors LLC
Custom Builder. High End Homes.
(425) 842-4544 in Bainbridge Island

The Affordable Co USA Inc
(425) 226-6000 in Burien

David Sundberg & Co Inc
(425) 868-6652 in Redmond

Whitney Architecture Inc
Residential Planning & Design
(206) 789-3934 in Seattle

New Certifications

Congratulations to WG Clark Construction Co. for certifying Fairwinds Redmond, a 143-unit retirement community, 2-Star Built Green with the multi-family checklist; and to Quadrant Homes for certifying 73 homes at Pasadera in Everett, 253 homes at The Heights in Snoqualmie Ridge, 80 homes at Foxglove in Bothell, and 228 homes at Shaunessy in Bothell 3-Star Built Green!

Member News

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.

Awards: Call for Entries

Green Remodeling Projects
Carl Seville of Seville Consulting is planning a new book on green home renovations and is looking for projects to feature. The book will be project-based and visually oriented in order to show how a wide variety of high quality renovation projects can be green and architecturally appealing. Any manner of residential renovation or addition will be considered provided it includes most or all of the following qualities: energy efficiency, durability, resource efficiency, and health.

The author is particularly seeking projects that cover a broad range of green, as opposed to focusing solely on one aspect, such as solar energy or healthy materials. The author is also interested in challenges that arose during the planning and construction process and how they were handled regardless of the outcome. Projects that were certified by third-party professionals or local green building programs will be of particular interest (like Built Green homes!). A full description of the submission guidelines is available in PDF format online.

2006 Designing and Building with FSC Award
FSC-US and Forest Products Solutions have announced a call for submissions for this second annual award, which recognizes building projects that have furthered responsible forest management through their purchase of FSC-certified wood products. This award is open to owners, architects, interior designers, general contractors, builders, consultants or other professionals. Projects can be any building type, including commercial, institutional, mixed-use or residential. To submit a project, it must have used a significant amount (at least 50 percent of the new wood by cost) of FSC-certified wood and been completed during or since 2003. The deadline for entries is Friday, September 15 by 5 p.m. For more information about the award and to download an application, see the Green Building section of FSC-US' website.

Puget Sound Energy

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is proud to sponsor the following events in the month of September:

Olympia Master Builders Big Home and Garden Show
September 8-10
(St. Martin's University Pavilion, Lacey)
The Olympia Master Builders Big Home and Garden Show will feature more than 170 exhibitors including PSE. Representatives from PSE will be available to share information about available rebates on energy-efficient products for the home and answer any energy-related questions.

Kittitas Valley Tour of Homes
September 15-17 (Roslyn)
This year's tour will have 17 homes featuring the latest in energy-efficient products and lighting. This tour will also provide another opportunity to visit the Suncadia Built Green™ home, which is also ENERGY STAR® qualified, that was open to the public in June and July.

Seattle Green Living Expo
September 23 & 24 (West Seattle)
This expo will open the doors of five homes for sale, two rental homes and the entire sustainable community of High Point to demonstrate both practical and cutting-edge ideas in sustainable, Built Green and ENERGY STAR living. In addition to public tours of model homes, booths, workshops and seminars will educate consumers and industry leaders on how to create healthier buildings, communities and lifestyles.

For more information on any of these events, contact Nora Accetturo at 425-456-2301 or by email.

Sustainable Task Force

Presenting: A Residential Landscaping Tour, Bringing Beauty Home
Many of us live in newly developed areas, where trees were cut, stumps removed, native soils scraped away and only a compacted, hard, uneven ground is left, often growing weeds of all kinds. The question comes up: what can be done with the yards in new construction areas?

Frog On A Log Parks Landscaping is hosting a brown bag event on Sept. 20 to answer this question by picking two sites that demonstrate unique opportunities to enhance the residential landscape. These two particular sites in Stanwood share the qualities of 'park-like-settings' despite their differences. One yard is a Zen-garden with a large flagstone patio. The trees, ferns and groundcovers are planted and the water feature is built to create a hillside feel. The other yard is a miniature forest with a small built creek, many deciduous and conifer trees, shrubs, a curving path, cedar logs for future nurse logs and benches. The event will be held on Wednesday, September 20, at 11:30 a.m. and will meet at 71st Drive NW off Village Road in Stanwood. For more information or directions call Terri Hooper at (425) 783-8275.

Snohomish County

Snohomish County Sustainable Development Task Force is teaming up with Solar Washington for a self-guided tour of Green Buildings in Snohomish County. The Green Building Tour will be held on Saturday, October 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 pm.

Join us as we participate in the National Solar Tour, sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of sustainable energy. In Washington State, the tour is organized by ASES' affiliate, Solar Washington.

The Snohomish County tour will feature solar and green building strategies you can add-on to your own home or building site. They will continue to feature solar technology, net metering and off-grid systems as well as other green or sustainable technologies, products, materials and living styles that promote sustainability. On the tour you will see a fantastic low impact development water conservation and retention example that happens to be at a Gourmet Ice Cream Parlor – drop by when you've built up an appetite! Two new tour features not to miss: a solar-powered neighborhood vehicle and one home filled with green building finishing materials that help promote sustainability through efficient and smart material use and selection.

The Snohomish County Tour will have a 10:00 a.m. kick-off at two convenient locations, where participants can learn more about green building and receive a free Tour Guide and other green building information and resources. Watch for details on the Solar Washington website, and SDTF website.

To volunteer or to participate in the tour please email us.

Letter from the Director

Ever since the NAHB's announcement in April that green building had reached a "tipping point", the dialogue on sustainability in the building community has been gaining steam faster than ever. Now a mainstream media darling, a discussion on trends in sustainability can be found in magazines from Fine Homebuilding to Gourmet.

Newsweek's recent cover story on "The Greening of America: Why Saving the Environment is Suddenly so Cool" is a great example. The article forwarded the understanding of issues in green building and market based environmentalism to an entirely new audience--mainstream America. Add to Newsweek, covers on Vogue, Time, and Dwell, the rise in awareness around oil extraction and consumption, and the success of an Inconvenient Truth- Al Gore's manifesto on Global Warming, and you've got a changing paradigm of the way the public perceives our collective cultural interaction with the natural world.

Taking action and making a lifestyle change based on environmental values may still reside with the dedicated eco-champions, but the rest of the nation is now starting to hear the message, and in finally in a positive way. Ultimately, they will not be that far behind. It's a slow transition for a culture to redefine the way it interacts with the environment and develop a conscious stewardship ethic, but it's a transition that's beginning, and it's fun to see and be a part of.

- Aaron Adelstein

Featured Event

Built Green Showcase on the Grand Tour of Homes
This month's featured home will be open to the public on the Master Builders Association's Grand Tour of Homes as the Built Green Showcase Home. This inaugural year of the scattered site home tour boasts 105 homes, 65 of which are certified as Built Green. From South King County to North Snohomish, Seattle to Everett, this is an excellent opportunity to see Built Green homes wherever you live...or would like to live. The homes will be open to the public from noon to 6 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays, September 21 through October 15, 2006. Built Green houses on the tour will be noted in the Tour of Homes guidebook, which can be picked up at your local QFC grocery store.

Product Spotlight

For information on how to list your "green" products* in this space, please contact Built Green Director Aaron Adelstein by phone at (425) 460-8230, 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.

Events

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

Tuesday, September 12
Seattle Green Drinks
All are welcome to join Seattle Green Drinks for an evening of drinks and good conversation. The goal of the group is pretty simple: good times shared among people working in, or interested in, environmental and sustainability issues. This month's gathering will be hosted by the Sustainable Industries Journal at the Seattle Aquarium on Pier 59, located at 1483 Alaskan Way starting around 6:30 p.m. For logistical questions, please contact the Sustainable Industries Journal at (206) 281-1122. For more information about Green Drinks, visit its website at www.greendrinks.org.

September 16 to 17, and September 23 to 24, Seattle
Seattle Green Living Expo
Join the City of Seattle,the Built Green program and West Seattle's High Point neighborhood for this free Green Living Expo celebrating everything "green"! Open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. over two weekends in September, the Expo will include docent-guided tours of Built Green idea homes, demonstrations of sustainable products and lifestyle choices and seminars tailored to residential architects, homebuilders, developers and real estate professionals.The High Point neighborhood is a model of sustainable urban development, incorporating respect for the natural environment, current occupants and future generations. Pre-registration is recommended to attend the seminars. You can find a detailed list of sessions and registration information on the City of Seattle website.

September 28 to 30, 2006, San Francisco
West Coast Green
West Coast Green is the nation's premier conference and tradeshow focused exclusively on residential green building design, materials, and sustainable living. This landmark event is coming to San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium September 28 to 30. West Coast Green will showcase over 250 exhibitors and 120 speakers, including keynotes by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and industry leaders Ed Mazria, Sarah Susanka, Sim Van der Ryn, Ray Cole, Peter Yost, Ann Edminster, Ron Jones, Tom Paladino and others. West Coast Green will gather trade professionals from all over the country and on the final day, open the doors to homeowners eager to educate themselves about green building. To learn more about the West Coast Green Conference and why it is the largest residential green building event in the country visit www.westcoastgreen.com.

October 7 through October 13
Sweden-Denmark Urban Sustainability Study Tour
International Sustainable Solutions has organized another Sweden-Denmark Urban Sustainability Study Tour. Join leading developers, architects, engineers, public officials and others to experience what European cities have done to create highly livable, economically vibrant urban environments. This tour will focus on sustainability topics in the urban built environment, and will cover issues such as low impact development, high performance buildings, transportation/mobility, green roofs, creating vibrant public and private spaces, urban planning and energy. Many of the Northwest's leading developers, architects, engineers, public officials and others have already joined us on previous study tours to experience what other cities have done to create highly livable, economically vibrant urban environments. For more information please contact Patricia Chase at by email, or visit the ISS website.

October 14 through October 20
Sustainable Energy Systems of Northern Europe
International Sustainable Solutions has organized a new study tour: Sustainable Energy Systems of Northern Europe. This tour will explore the technologies and policies of power generation, distribution and energy efficiency that now allow the economies of Northern Europe to achieve up to 75% higher GDP output per unit of energy consumed than the U.S. Participants will visit wind, solar and other building-integrated and neighborhood-scale-distributed generation installations, combined heat and power plants, waste-to-energy plants, district energy systems, examples of ground source heating and cooling and high performance buildings. For more information please contact Patricia Chase by email, or visit the ISS website.

Recycled Paint

The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) and Green Seal, Inc. have completed a national Green Seal environmental standard for recycled-content latex paint. The standard is aimed at assuring consumers that recycled paint, in addition to being environmentally beneficial, can perform as well as virgin paint, both in terms of ease of application and quality and longevity of finish. The standards are available online at both Green Seal's website and the Product Stewardship Council's website.

Classes

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

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

Saturday, September 9, University of Washington Pack Forest, Eatonville, WA
Ecological Forestry on Small Woodlands: Maximizing Ecological Benefits & Income
You are cordially invited to attend a forest management workshop co-hosted by the Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest, the Nisqually River Council, the Nisqually Land Trust and Northwest National Resource Group's Northwest Certified Forestry program. This event will take place on Saturday, September 9 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the University of Washington's Pack Forest in Eatonville, Washington. For more information, please contact Ian Hanna of the Northwest National Resource Group (NNRG) at (360) 379-9421 or by email.

Tuesday, September 12, Bellevue
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, May 16, at the Master Builders Association Housing Center in Bellevue. Learn how to certify a project and use the checklist, how to join, how the program works, and other resources. The seminar presents examples of projects and covers how to fill out the Built Green checklist. This orientation is required in order to certify homes as Built Green. To register, contact the MBA University registrar via email or at (425) 451-7920.

Monday, September 18 - Friday, September 22
Industry Professional Series at Highpoint
West Seattle's High Point neighborhood is a model of sustainable urban development, incorporating respect for the natural environment, current occupants and future generations. Learn how to capture the growing market for green homes through this weeklong series of workshops tailored for residential architects, homebuilders, developers and real estate professionals. Learn about innovative approaches to stormwater management, the basics of building science, marketing green homes and the ins and outs of the Built Green program. Find a detailed list of sessions and registration information on the City of Seattle website.

Wednesday, October 8, Seattle
Wetlands Workshop
The Seattle Aquarium and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District will be offering a free wetlands workshop for land use professionals, including realtors, land developers (residential and commercial), land trusts, and builders. This free workshop will introduce basic concepts about wetlands biology and function, as well as regulations that may affect you and your clients in your work as land use professionals. You will be able to meet with State and Federal regulatory staff, ask them questions and work with them in the classroom and in the field.

The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, October 8 at the Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center, located on 950 NE Carkeek Park Rd., in Seattle. The workshop is free, but registration is required by September 22. This workshop is underwritten by the EPA, and all participants will receive lunch and refreshments, a wetlands guide and a free one-day family pass to the Seattle Aquarium. For more information or to register for this free workshop, please call (206) 386-4353.

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

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.