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Green Homebuilding Articles:

Affordable Housing Goes "Green"
By Alexandra Marks
The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1122/p03s03-ussc.html
Tuesday 22 November 2005

    Such homes may cost more to build, but cities are encouraging them for their long-term savings.

    New York - It's an inside-out apartment house: The boiler is on the top floor, the insulation is outside the concrete walls, and the garden's going to be on the roof.

    On New York's Lower East Side, this brick apartment house - still under construction - is one of a number of environmentally conscious and energy-efficient building projects.

    It's also one of the more tangible manifestations of a trend taking off in cities across the country: the merging of affordable housing and "green" building. City officials and others are recognizing that energy-efficient buildings, while they may cost a bit more to build, are far more affordable than traditional housing in the truest sense of the word. They cost less to operate and live in, and they provide tenants with a healthier atmosphere that can save on healthcare costs.

    This fall, when reviewing certain grant proposals, New York City will start giving developers who want to build affordable housing "extra points" if builders pledge to incorporate green building principles. At the same time, Chicago is offering housing developers and apartment-building owners incentives if they build "green roofs," which are essentially roof gardens that help both insulate buildings better and improve overall air quality. And in Los Angeles, city officials have incorporated green standards into parts of the city's building code.

    In the past year, the Enterprise Foundation, a leading provider of capital and expertise for the development of affordable housing, has helped start 77 green developments in 21 states, which will create more than 4,300 environmentally efficient homes for low-income families.

    "If you just take the 4,300 homes in the pipeline right now, each year we will have $1.5 million of energy savings in those homes, more than 5,000 tons of reduced greenhouse-gas emissions per year, and 30 million gallons of reduced water use a year," says Bart Harvey, CEO of the Enterprise Foundation. "Those are remarkable savings, and they really reflect that the country needs to think and work in a different way: Green and affordable need to become synonymous."

    The notion of green building is often associated with counterculture, leftist environmentalists of the 1960s and '70s. But during the past decade, green building principles have become increasingly incorporated into commercial buildings by corporations conscious of the bottom line. To encourage that trend, the US Green Building Council created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a group that trains and certifies architects, builders, and designers.

    In 2000, LEED developed a set of standards to certify commercial buildings that meet environmental and energy-efficient standards. During the past summer, it set up a pilot project to certify residential buildings.

    In another sign that green building is becoming more mainstream, the National Association of Home Builders this year announced its own set of voluntary green standards for builders, as did the Enterprise Foundation.

    "Doesn't it make sense that if you're going to invest all of this time and money that you build well, that you build healthy? It sounds like a slam-dunk to me," says Mary Spink, executive director of the Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association, a nonprofit that's committed to building affordable housing.

    Ms. Spink and her organization have been ahead of the curve: They built their first energy-efficient affordable-housing project seven years ago. And that was just the beginning. They've just received $8.5 million in tax-credit equity from Enterprise to build 44 more units of green affordable housing.

    Standing on the top floor of one of their green projects that's almost completed, Spink points out the thick, green tiles made of recycled rubber that line the roof in preparation for a garden. She's showing this to a top executive from Citigroup, which has just pledged $1.5 million to Enterprise's green initiative.

    "This is our first venture into green affordable housing, and the lesson is that we can do economic development with respect for people and the environment and do it economically," says Pamela Flaherty, senior vice president of global community relations at Citigroup. "The secret objective is much broader, which is to transform the whole affordable- housing infrastructure across the country."

    If history is a guide, that could be possible. Back in the 1970s, when the alternative energy movement in construction began, there were no standards for how well a house should be insulated. Now, they're generally established.

    "In each decade, there are some things that become so incorporated in the mainstream they're hardly talked about anymore, like minimum levels of insulation in homes," says Rick Schwolsky, an early advocate of green building and now editor in chief of two construction trade magazines.

    For many in the movement, the hope is that ultimately green becomes the norm. "That's the ambition, that green building as a concept disappears and becomes part of regular, mainstream architectural practice," says Jack Elliot of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "In a world with diminishing resources and rising expectation, I think it's inevitable."

Retirement Articles:

Perfect Places To Retire
NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2005
CBSNews.com

(CBS) According to the AARP, about 80 percent of Americans don't plan to move when they retire. However, if any of them change their minds Consumer Reports' Deputy Editor Lisa Freeman has some suggestions for them and anyone else who is considering it.

After reviewing books on the best places to retire and working with Warren Bland, geographer and the author of "Retire in Style", six cities were selected as perfect retirement havens.

"He helped us single out cities that are outstanding in terms of climate, housing prices and entertainment opportunities," Freeman told The Early Show for the Young At Heart series.

The following are places expected to be very popular in the next decade or so: Carson City, Nev.; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Lexington, Va.; Tallahassee, Fla., Thomasville, Ga., and Vernon, B.C.

One thing these cities have in common is their beautiful surroundings. Carson City is next to Lake Tahoe. Halifax has a large beach and Lexington is near the Blue Ridge Mountains. Tallahassee and Thomasville have a good climate. Also, Tallahassee has no state income tax and it has two universities. Vernon is a five-hour drive from Vancouver, B.C., in a lake region near fruit farms.

Consider picking a college town
"They tend to have cheap entertainment and food and cultural events because there is a lot of cultural activity," Freeman said. "A college town usually means there will be a major teaching hospital. We also found that low crime rates tend to be associated with college towns."

She doesn't recommend resorts and military towns because they tend to be crowded, have busy traffic and higher taxes and consumer prices. She said military towns can get very depressing. A lot are falling on hard times because bases are closing down. This means services will go, too.

Rent for awhile
"A lot of retirees buy places in areas where they have vacationed but not lived," Freeman said. "We recommend that they live there for about a year before buying. Once you live there, you may find that you like it better as a vacation spot. For example, Palm Springs in the summer can be unbearably hot. … In the winter, it's gorgeous; same goes for Florida. They don't realize how hot and humid it gets."

Find a place that the family is going to want to visit
"If you are going in the middle of nowhere to retire, people may not want to visit, and maybe there's not an airport that is convenient," Freeman said. She said to also think about retiring in a place that your grandchildren will enjoy visiting.

Read up on the rules of retirement communities
Freeman said that there can be problems with the rules of retirement communities from decorating your house to having house guests and even gardening. "If you live on a golf course, they may not let you plant a garden," she said.

Don't buy too far in advance
"I know someone who is 10 years from retirement and is planning to move to Sarasota, Fla., to for retirement," Freeman said. "The place may change while you're waiting to move or you may change and want something different."