- NUMBER1EXPERT™ 
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As a green certified agent, I feel it's very important to give back to our nation as a whole that is thirsting for alternatives to the traditional building and life practices of the past several decades. It is my goal to educate my clients with the changes that we can impliment in our building and life practices so we can preserve the future generations ability to live healthy and leave a minimal footprint on this earth!
__________________________________________________ What Makes a Home Earth Advantage®? Every Earth Advantage home is designed to provide its residents with comfort and quality while maintaining our standards for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, environmental responsibility and resource efficiency. Energy efficiency *Individual circumstance and savings will vary. Ask an Earth Advantage representative for details. Indoor air quality Environmental responsibility Resource efficiency __________________________________________________ Do Earth Advantage homes last as long as regular homes? Yes. In fact, they may last longer because they're built to such exacting standards. All Earth Advantage homes are designed for maximum durability and are constructed with high-quality materials that are meant to last. __________________________________________________ New Construction Certification Process The Earth Advantage® certification process involves six steps: Plan Review Determining Materials and Methods Consultation Walk-Through Performance Testing Certification Earth Advantage is on a point system, so each builder may choose different items that all add up to the same required points off of a list. Make sure to ask the builder for a list of the items in the home that they used to recieve their certification. Compare an Earth Advantage® Home On the surface, an Earth Advantage home may appear quite similar to other new homes. But within the shell there’s a significant difference. Compare a new Earth Advantage home to most other new homes. You’ll find features that positively affect energy efficiency, indoor air quality, environmental impact and, just as important, your overall comfort. __________________________________________________ Frequently Asked Questions How is an Earth Advantage® home different from a regular home? An Earth Advantage home is designed to use less energy and fewer resources, improve indoor air quality and protect the environment. Nearly every aspect of the home, from the building materials to the landscaping, is designed with comfort, value and efficiency in mind. Doesn't an Earth Advantage home cost more? Not necessarily. Although the asking price for an Earth Advantage home may be a bit more than a regular home, the long-term financial advantages can be worth it. You'll use less energy all year long.* You may also qualify for a "green mortgage." More *Individual circumstance and savings will vary. Ask an Earth Advantage representative for details. My home is older. Can it still be Earth Advantage? Yes. No matter how old your home is, you can still may be able to make changes that will reduce your energy and resource consumption, improve your indoor air quality and protect the environment around you. More Is it hard to find an Earth Advantage builder or remodeler? No. There are many Earth Advantage builders and remodelers available to help you. I have a list I can provide. <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Watch the Video "The Story of Stuff" in regards to protecting the environment with Annie Leonard<o:p></o:p> http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html <o:p></o:p> Everyone Can make a difference! The bigger the action, the bigger the difference!
<o:p> </o:p> 1. Power down! A great deal of the resources we use and the waste we create is in the energy we consume. Look for opportunities in your life to significantly reduce energy use: drive less, fly less, turn off lights, buy local seasonal food (food takes energy to grow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, use a clothesline instead of a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things before buying new, recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, if you can switch to alternative energy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panels on your home, bravo!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 2. Waste less. Per capita waste production in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> just keeps growing. There are hundreds of opportunities each day to nurture a Zero Waste culture in your home, school, workplace, church, community. This takes developing new habits which soon become second nature. Use both sides of the paper, carry your own mugs and shopping bags, get printer cartridges refilled instead of replaced, compost food scraps, avoid bottled water and other over packaged products, upgrade computers rather than buying new ones, repair and mend rather than replace….the list is endless! The more we visibly engage in re-use over wasting, the more we cultivate a new cultural norm, or actually, reclaim an old one!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 3. Talk to everyone about these issues. At school, your neighbors, in line at the supermarket, on the bus…A student once asked Cesar Chavez how he organized. He said, “First, I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” “No,” said the student, “how do you organize?” Chavez answered, “First I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” You get the point. Talking about these issues raises awareness, builds community and can inspire others to action.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 4. Make Your Voice Heard. Write letters to the editor and submit articles to local press. In the last two years, and especially with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the media has been forced to write about Climate Change. As individuals, we can influence the media to better represent other important issues as well. Letters to the editor are a great way to help newspaper readers make connections they might not make without your help. Also local papers are often willing to print book and film reviews, interviews and articles by community members. Let’s get the issues we care about in the news.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 5. Detoxify your body, home, and economy. Many of today’s consumer products – from children’s pajamas to lipstick – contain toxic chemical additives that simply aren’t necessary. Research online (for example, http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ ) before you buy to be sure you’re not inadvertently introducing toxins into your home and body. Then tell your friends about toxics in consumer products. Together, ask the businesses why they’re using toxic chemicals without any warning labels. And ask your elected officials why they are permitting this practice. The European Union has adopted strong policies that require toxics to be removed from many products. So, while our electronic gadgets and cosmetics have toxics in them, people in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> can buy the same things toxics-free. Let’s demand the same thing here. Getting the toxics out of production at the source is the best way to ensure they don’t get into any home and body.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 6. Unplug (the TV and internet) and Plug In (the community). The average person in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> watches T.V. over 4 hours a day. Four hours per day filled with messages about stuff we should buy. That is four hours a day that could be spent with family, friends and in our community. On-line activism is a good start, but spending time in face-to-face civic or community activities strengthens the community and many studies show that a stronger community is a source of social and logistical support, greater security and happiness. A strong community is also critical to having a strong, active democracy.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 7. Park your car and walk…and when necessary MARCH! Car-centric land use policies and life styles lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel extraction, conversion of agricultural and wild lands to roads and parking lots. Driving less and walking more is good for the climate, the planet, your health, and your wallet. But sometimes we don’t have an option to leave the car home because of inadequate bike lanes or public transportation options. Then, we may need to march, to join with others to demand sustainable transportation options. Throughout <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> history, peaceful non-violent marches have played a powerful role in raising awareness about issues, mobilizing people, and sending messages to decision makers.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 8. Change your light bulbs…and then, change your paradigm. Changing light bulbs is quick and easy. Energy efficient light bulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than conventional ones. That's a no-brainer. But changing light bulbs is just tinkering at the margins of a fundamentally flawed system unless we also change our paradigm. A paradigm is a collection of assumptions, concepts, beliefs, and values that together make up a community’s way of viewing reality. Our current paradigm dictates that more stuff is better, that infinite economic growth is desirable and possible, and that pollution is the price of progress. To really turn things around, we need to nurture a different paradigm based on the values of sustainability, justice, health, and community.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 9. Recycle your trash…and, recycle your elected officials. Recycling saves energy and reduces both waste and the pressure to harvest and mine new stuff. Unfortunately, many cities still don’t have adequate recycling systems in place. In that case you can usually find some recycling options in the phone book to start recycling while you’re pressuring your local government to support recycling city-wide. Also, many products – for example, most electronics - are designed not to be recycled or contain toxics so recycling is hazardous. In these cases, we need to lobby government to prohibit toxics in consumer products and to enact Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, as is happening in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. EPR is a policy which holds producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, so that electronics company who use toxics in their products, have to take them back. That is a great incentive for them to get the toxics out!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 10. Buy Green, Buy Fair, Buy Local, Buy Used, and most importantly, Buy Less. Shopping is not the solution to the environmental problems we currently face because the real changes we need just aren’t for sale in even the greenest shop. But, when we do shop, we should ensure our dollars support businesses that protect the environment and worker rights. Look beyond vague claims on packages like “all natural” to find hard facts. Is it organic? Is it free of super-toxic PVC plastic? When you can, buy local products from local stores, which keeps more of our hard earned money in the community. Buying used items keeps them out of the trash and avoids the upstream waste created during extraction and production. But, buying less may be the best option of all. Less pollution. Less Waste. Less time working to pay for the stuff. Sometimes, less really is more.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> ___________________________________________________________________________</o:p> Test your knowledge about a typical home's construction, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, the environment and more with this quick rundown of Earth Advantage facts. Fact: Indoor air levels of many pollutants may be two to five times, and occasionally more than 100 times higher than outdoor levels.1 Why: The air quality in some new homes could make you want to hold your breath. Paint fumes may linger long after the walls have dried, certain carpets and pads emit toxins. Formaldehyde may lurk in cabinets and flooring underlayment. And without proper ventilation, the same advances that seal the weather out can seal all of this in. An Earth Advantage home can improve indoor air quality through the use of natural and low toxic materials and improved ventilation systems. Fact: A typical 1,700 square-foot wood-frame house requires the equivalent of one acre of forest timber.2 Why: Behind the scenes, do you know what materials are used to build your house? If you own an Earth Advantage home, you do. Earth Advantage homes are built with materials that help preserve our precious resources, including old growth forests. But it's not about sacrifice - many of these products are cutting edge and can actually improve structural quality, including composite floor joists and engineered lumber. Fact: The average American house consumes nearly $1,500 per year in utility costs. But usage can be reduced by implementing energy efficient products and construction practices.3 Why: By building energy efficiency into your home, you will be just one step ahead in reducing utility usage. With innovative heating, insulation and landscaping solutions, Earth Advantage homes help increase energy efficiency by at least 15 percent over conventional home construction.* And that can save you a lot of energy over time. *Individual circumstance and savings will vary. Ask an Earth Advantage representative for details. __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________ I work with several builders and remodelers throughout Portland that build Green Certified Homes and don't pass the cost onto the buyer! 
NUMBER1EXPERT® © Best Image Marketing and/or its clients. All rights reserved. All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. |
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