The Future Is Green

A recent article sent to me by a colleague on density and design got me to think a little bit more about where we are headed in the building and development industry in Montana. It's a given to know that things will never be the same, and today I was catching a little bit of a glimpse into our future. I liked it!

Let me start by saying that, fortunately in Montana we haven't seen the drastic fall of home prices like in some markets, but we haven't had much appreciable gain in value either. In conversations with many Montana builders, cautious optimism is the mood and the recent sales activity has most feeling like it is the start of the long slow climb back to normalcy. While it's still predicted that starts in 2009 will still be down significantly from last year, even nationally builder confidence had it's largest one month increase last month since 2002.

Does this mean we will soon be back to the same old game and we can dust off our current house plans and site plans and get back after it? Probably not. Coming out the other side of this downturn experts predict a real shift in the way we build homes and develop communities in the Rocky Mountain West. For homes the trend will be for smaller, more efficient homes closer to communities and services. Not only has the tightening of the credit market reduced the amount buyers can spend on a new home, the home buyer is realizing the expense and operational cost of that home and becoming more savvy in looking for energy efficiency and low operational costs.

In community development, with the continued rising cost of infrastructure and the trends established by our new breed of home buyers, things are changing as well. It's anticipated that we will have to see a much higher level of density in our new developments and it won't be economically feasible to build lots of large homes on large lots.

I was in Billings today for a conference and when I was done I took some time to see a couple of local builder friends that were showcasing homes in their Spring Parade of Homes. Both had projects that they were developing and building in that utilized high density small lot homes. These homes were not only well designed, but extremely energy efficient and built green. The part I really liked was the excitement from the potential buyers and the sales. Yes, sales!! Both of these builders were excited about their product(a high density, high performance home) and excited about their potential. Good work guys!

While we all won't be living in condos over a coffee house, and we will still have homes on 5,10, 20 acres or more, it's at least good to see some of the inherent green principles becoming driving forces in todays' market. Smaller, more efficient floorplans and homes with higher energy efficiency built utilizing less consumptive development practices. I like it.

Earth Day Ahead

I found this picture of Billings,MT from space....I'll take their word for it. Just thought it would be fitting for a picture of the earth with Earth Day coming up. Activities are happening across the state this weekend and hopefully if you're not at one of the events promoting green building (like I know all the Missoula crowd will be at Caras park on Sunday) hopefully you'll at least be out doing something that will enhance you're appreciation for the earth.

Green Student Built

Congratulations to the Missoula Building Industry Association, The University of Montana College of Technology, and the Flagship Program for their partnership and on the groundbreaking for the first student built house in Missoula!! The three bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home will be completed and sold in 2010 to provide funding for future student homes and for scholarship funds. Last and most importantly, the home will be Certified Green under the National Green Building Standard and with the help of the Montana Green Building Program!! See the video and full article here

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/04/09/news/mtregional/news06.txt

Help!

With Spring on the way and the myriad of other events and projects on my plate it's hard to keep active in writing here. I need your help. Share your ideas, send me your pictures, whatever you've got I'm ready for it.

Here's a great picture that i did get from one of our readers who is just a llittle too shy to go public. Isn't it amazing how you look at things the same way for a long time and then someone comes up with an idea or change that makes you say, "Of, Course!!" We've been getting our milk this way for as long as I can remember.

With the talk of BPA leaching from some reusable water bottles and the 38 million plastic bottles that make their way into the landfill each year it's definitely something I wish I had thought of.

Green For The Greater Good

I just got off the phone with a builder friend of mine from the East Coast. We hadn't talked for several months and we caught up on kids, family, dogs, weather and all the normal chit chat, then we of course drifted in to the industry talk. He is a green builder and has been for quite some time. He was telling me about his latest project and that's where the fun began.

He's working on a rather large addition to an existing home that sits within 200' of the Atlantic Ocean. He went on to tell me how frustrated he was because his clients wouldn't pay any attention to him when he reviewed the intricate sill pan and flashing details that they were employing to ensure that hurricane driven rain would not penetrate their building envelope.

He was equally frustrated that they could care less about the new zoned heating system with the aerosol sealed duct system, remote programmable controls and the super high efficiency heating and cooling unit. After that he went on to rant that the homeowner took a cell phone call right in the middle of him explaining why they had strategically located the new tank less hot water heater inside the new master closet, close to the master bath rather than down on the main level.

"I don't know why in the H@#$ these people even decided to build green!" he finally said. Now you have to know him to truly appreciate how passionate he is about his craft and green building, but I had to laugh and I replied, "Who cares!!" After a dramatic pause, at which point I thought he might jump through the phone at me, I went on, "What difference does it make WHY they decided to build green, isn't it great that people will now build green even without a reason!"

He conceded that was probably right, after all, not everyone is building green to save the environment, stop global warming, or because they know it's the right thing to do. Not everyone has to build green for the greater good, whatever their reason, just be thankful that they are!

Flat, Hot and Crowded

I've been reading the book Flat, Hot and Crowded by Thomas Friedman, and can't help but keep talking about it lately with anyone that will listen. Not so much do I think that the book is exceptionally well written, and quite frankly the message didn't really need to take 438 pages, but the message is worth hearing.

Friedman's mantra is that with a world so technologically connected, the global playing field is becoming level.=(Flat) Global warming continues at a rate that can no longer be ignored.=(Hot) And finally, the global population will reach over 9 billion by 2040.=(Crowded) These factors combine to paint a pretty scary picture.

What Friedman calls for is a radical change in energy use that will represent an opportunity for the US to preserve its global economic leadership. By creating clean energy ideas that will sell, we can not only stem the outgoing tide of the flat, hot and crowded world, but do it while creating a renewed American focus and national purpose.

Agree or disagree with all of Friedman's facts, predictions and prognostications it will certainly make you think a little.

Creativity and Climate Change

As we all look at new ways to market ourselves and our businesses in the new green age, I thought this was very interesting:

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/407