Cindy's Blog

Well, I think that we can safely say that we are slowly, but surely, starting to grow a bit of a sustainable building culture and a fostering environment in the Richmond area. More and more people are becoming aware of what an energy audit is, and more and more home builders are starting to realize that people are becoming more aware and more interested in sustainable, more energy efficient homes.

It sure is slow going, though. I don't remember if I've referenced this before, but there was an old joke saying that "Richmond is the best place to be in a nuclear war, since it takes everything 10 years to get here." As much as I love Richmond, and don't get me wrong, I do love Richmond- I've lived up and down the East coast and came back here very purposefully. It certainly does have it's little quirks, though- one of them is the length it time it takes things to really "catch on" here.

After talking to a number of people who have moved here from out of state/ out of town, they've noticed this as well, in the sense that there is definitely a "waiting" period before anyone really fully lets you in. It's not that we're not nice, here, it's just that we as a community seem to want to wait for things to gel before we fully engage them.

At any rate, the one thing I think that is fortunate about the often irritating "hipness" about the wave of "greening" that has been sweeping the nation, is that it has perhaps pushed Virginia, and the oh so conservative Richmonders to be a bit greener than they would have been had they just waited to do it on their own because it's a good idea.

I digress a bit- what I really wanted to mention was that the Virginia Sustainable Building Network is having their Annual Meeting and Celebration here at the University of Richmond's Jepson Center this Wednesday. Very exciting! It should really prove to be a great event, and hopefully we'll have a good local representation. I believe that the registration is closed now, but check out www.vsbn.org for more information about what they do and how you might get involved and learn more!

Well, at long last, there's an answer to the folks who reject the idea of the compact flourescent bulb because they don't know what to do with them when they do finally burn out! (Better, perhaps than those who use them, then toss them in the landfill, potentially causing mercury to leach into soil and groundwater over time.)

Home Depot has just launched a massive initiative to recycled the used/ burnt out cfl bulbs. All you need to do is collect your expired, non working (but not broken) bulbs and bring them to the Home Depot returns desk. It's a totally free service, and all you need to do is drop them off and they will make sure that they go through the proper disposal channels. How terrific is that!?

Well, this has been a tremendously busy week, and I have LOADS of things to blog about. Unfortunately, there's that time thing, and the working thing, and oh, yeah, that sleeping thing. Hopefully I'll get back on track and at least be able to get a few posts in over the next few days. The first thing I want to mention is that tomorrow is the big VSBN Anniversary Celebration and Annual Meeting, with the theme "One Planet Living". I actually was so excited that I forwarded the information to not only everyone I know, but also the broker of pretty much every real estate company in town, and loads more people.

Unfortunately, I was so busy doing that (and my darling husband, who "manages my network" decided to scrub the hard drive of one of the desktops, including redirecting the network, and the printer) that I never printed out and sent in my own registration, and now it's totally FULL! I cannot believe it! It's terrific for them, but I'm so crushed that I won't be able to attend. And how embarrassing to be the one to promote it to so many people and to not be able to go! I will definitely be more on top of things next time! Again- the Virginia Sustainable Building Network is doing great work to help Virginia be more sustainable. Check them out at www.vsbn.org.

Well, the market in Richmond, at least, seems to be picking up a bit. There are more showings on listings, and more buyers- in effect, anecdotally, things appear to be looking up. It is still a terrific time to buy, and time to get a great deal, but things do seem to be moving a bit more.

Summer is here, though, and particularly with 100 degree + heat, things usually do slow down a bit.

One thing that I would really like to mention here, in this very short post, is the upcoming annual meeting of the Virginia Sustainable Building Network coming up on the 25th of June. The theme for the speakers and the event this year is One Planet Living, or How to Build Zero Energy/ Zero Waste Communities That Use Only One Planet's Worth of Resources. It should be a great event, with terrific speakers and lots of exciting people and resources. Check out more at www.vsbn.org. Hope to see you there! Let's help move Richmond into the 21st century!!

Well, I'm certainly a few days late posting on the Brookings institution study, but better late than never, I suppose. In case you haven't heard by now, the study released last week by the Brookings Institution, "Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America", Richmond definitely does not fare well at all.

In the study, Brookings took a look at the per capita energy consumption in the largest metro areas based on the amount people drive and their home sizes, and used the logic that people who drive farther burn more gasoline and those who live in bigger houses consume more electricity on heating and air conditioning. Out of the 100 largest metro regions, Richmond rankekd 86th in efficiency, effectively placing us in the 15th spot of worst culprits in the battle to lower energy usage, at home and on the road.

I suppose I'm not surprised, but it is still very disheartening. Having been born and raised in Richmond, then moving away for years to return, I have some perspective on this, my hometown (and there is really no place I would rather live...except New York, if I had tons of money and was friends with Regis, or Paris, pretty much anywhere).  Anyway, I digress.

Richmond definitely has some "issues." As much as I love it, I know that there are lots of things that make it more difficult for folks coming from other areas to figure it out, and we are, as a city/ region pretty stubborn in our traditions. One of those traditions is, unfortunately, driving. We seldom seem concerned with the distance of our commutes, and it seems that 20- 30 minutes has become more or less the norm. Given that the commute is not usually downtown, where public transportation is at least more accessible, there is not very much carpooling, and even less use of public transportation.

What the report determined was that the average resident in metropolitan Richmond emitted 3.039 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005, earning us the less than distinguished ranking of 15th worse. Our carbon emissions compared to an average of 2.24 tons of carbon emitted by residents of all 100 metro areas.

There are a few things that, in my opinion, cause much of this. Part of it is that there has been (up till very recently) little interest in green building on any sort of consumer scale in this area- There are so many ways to make a home more energy efficient, but they don't often dovetail with the "ideal" palatial master bed/ bath, huge bedrooms, two story foyer, and countless other areas of wasted space that everyone seems to not only just want, but feels that they need.

Combine these things with the fact that everything has to be bigger, better, and further west, and we end up with quite alot of inefficient housing at a great distance from where folks work, no public transportation to get to work, and having to drive a fair distance to get just about anywhere.

Couple this with the depressing shells of past development, and the way companies will build a brand new store a mile down the road from a shopping center that's 1/2 empty and a year old. (One of my major pet peeves)

I don't mean to rant, but I think that it is pretty shameful that we are as wasteful as we are, without thinking, as a community, of ways to make it better, or pay more attention to smart development.

I do think we are starting, I hope, to make some inroads, but it's slow going. Most of the builders building new "green" homes, are doing it out west, so there is a plus and minus to that. The homes themselves will be better on the environment, but there will still be a significant amount of driving to get anywhere at all. Our public transportation is not great, and in the counties, where many of the businesses are, it's more or less non existent. Until we as a community and a metro region stand up and make a significant change, we won't see one. If everyone still wants to move further west, builders will still build there, and it will be a cycle that continues.