Green Building Products are in the Big-Box game now.

Most spring Saturday mornings at The Home Depot, a steady stream of customers comes to peruse cabinets, countertops and showerheads; rose bushes, tomato plants and compost; barbecues, lawn chairs and weed whackers. Trying to be all things to all do-it-yourself-ers, The Home Depot introduced its Eco Options label in 2007 as a way to meet a growing demand from customers that had begun adding “energy-efficient,” “low-VOC,” and “organic” to their home improvement shopping lists.

Through a reportedly stringent process of elimination, the company pinpointed about 3,000 items ranging from compact fluorescent light fixtures (CFLs) to organic plants it deemed had less impact on the environment than their conventional counterparts. The campaign paid off. In 2007, Eco Options products sold as well or better than similar products, exceeding sales goals and reaching $3 billion.

With a goal of increasing the number of products in the Eco Options line to 6,000 by 2009, the company is scrambling to find products that fit the green mold. But not all manufacturers of green building products are viewing the big-box retailer or its largest competitor, Lowe’s as a silver bullet. 

As U.S. home sales and the value of the dollar continue to decline, market analysts are predicting more homeowners will opt to stay closer to home in 2008, spending more than $170 billion remodeling their homes. Even more, spending on home improvements is likely to increase 44 percent between 2005 and 2015, according to “State of the Nation’s Housing 2007,” published in June 2007 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. The center cites U.S. homeowners’ growing desire to invest in energy-efficient retrofits as a key factor driving such spending.

Despite an increasing number of environmental building supply stores opening up along the West Coast, most homeowners end up at big-box retailers to meet their home improvement needs. A 2007 survey conducted by Germantown, Tenn.–based Consumer Specialists showed customers slightly prefer shopping at Lowe’s. However, with a total of 2,234 retail stores worldwide, The Home Depot ranked significantly higher for its convenient locations, which was the strongest factor in determining where respondents chose to spend their money.

The world’s largest home improvement retailer, The Home Depot reported net earnings of $4.4 billion in fiscal year 2007. While a significant drop from its 2006 net earnings of $5.8 billion, the figure was almost double that of Lowe’s, which reported 2007 net earnings of $2.81 billion. Its buying power makes the retailer highly regarded by manufacturers vying for prominent shelf space, including companies serving the green building sector.

The best way to make smart decisions in green living is to do your homework. Web sites like thegreenguide.com and idealbite.com offer proven advice for living green. If you are unsure about where to begin, a recent Realty Times article offers a few simple tips that will make a big difference to the environment and your finances.

Start Simple

If you have recently decided to transition to a green lifestyle, you may want to start by adopting some simple environmentally friendly methods that are well-established.

Recycling is one of the most important things you can do to help the environment and reduce waste. You will be surprised at how much your family can put in the recycling bin instead of the trash bin! Many trash pick-up companies offer a recycling service and may accept a variety of items, from glass to newspaper to office paper and cardboard. You can also keep an eye out when shopping for recycled goods or goods made from recycled materials.

Another change you can make quickly, easily and cheaply is to replace all of your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. These newer bulbs are more expensive ($5 to $10 per bulb), but they last up to 10 years and can save you up to $30 in energy costs over the bulb’s lifetime. They more than pay for themselves!

Green Building

Home buyers looking to build a new home should search for a builder that is experienced in green construction. You can also encourage your builder to use environmentally friendly products, from flooring to paint to insulation.

If you have the luxury to choose features on your home, try to choose energy-efficient features like tankless water heaters, solar panels and composite windows. All of these may be more expensive upfront, but they will ultimately save you money in energy costs, will help your resale value and will help the environment. Check out buildinggreen.com for additional resources on how to reduce your footprint when you build a home.

Green Remodeling

Many homeowners are considering remodeling their homes as an alternative to selling in today’s market. When you remodel your home, you can make choices that have minimal impact to the environment. The site mentioned earlier, buildinggreen.com, would be a great resource to check out options like “low-flo” toilets and tankless water heaters.

If you are remodeling your kitchen, consider choosing countertops or tile made from recycled materials, like recycled glass. This fast-growing market offers consumers many options to fit their tastes and style needs.

Don’t have the time or money to do a full remodel? You can make a few small changes in your home that will be immediately beneficial to the environment, such as installing a “low-flo” showerhead or using a PVC-free shower curtain.

Perhaps the most pleasant economic savings can be derived from judicious and mindful planting of trees and shrubs. The value of traditional plantings serving as windbreaks is well known. Additionally, well-placed deciduous trees can shade a building during hot summer months yet allow warming sunshine to enter a building when warmth is needed in the winter. The summer shading feature of trees is particularly important for the following reason. Most homes are cooled with traditional window- or central- air conditioners using fractional horsepower single-phase electric motors and modern refrigerants (chlorofluorocarbons that are less potent greenhouse gases than their predecessors). The electro-mechanical efficiency of air conditioner components ranges from 35-50% based upon the electrical energy available at the plug. But that electricity is arriving at your building with an overall efficiency of about 30% based upon the energy content of the fuel going into the central electrical power plant. So, when the overall fuel cycle is considered, building air conditioning is about 10-20% efficient, on the basis of energy flow. Fortunately, humans feel a ‘cooling effect’ from simple air movement that increases evaporation from the skin. Most air conditioning rating systems incorporate this ‘cooling effect’, so their efficiency numbers do not appear quite so grim. However, when shade trees cool a house such that one unit of air conditioning energy is avoided, 5 to 10 units of primary energy are avoided at the power plant. This is not only an important economic savings to you, but also a very important environmental savings to the community.

Estimated Cost Savings:
Air conditioning in buildings represents 13-15% of your annual electricity budget, and a larger fraction during summer months. By reducing the amount of air conditioning required, shade trees directly affect your bottom line. The cost of quality shade trees ranges from a few dollars for a seedling to several hundred for a much larger tree. It�s a good idea to get at least an 8-10 foot high tree if possible. The sooner the tree grows shading capacity, the sooner you can enjoy savings. The amount of savings can vary widely due to local circumstances but typical savings are on the order of 10-20% of a summer electric bill. Similar savings from a windbreak will be realized in winter during the heating season.

Issues:
Consider planting several varieties of trees: some fast-growing species (such as ash or aspen) for quick shade and more durable, slower-growing and longer-lasting trees (such as maple or oak) that will eventually dominate. Shop around for the best warranty on trees. Many nurseries provide planting and care instructions and will offer a one-year replacement guarantee.

Regional Issues:
Plant varieties appropriate to your climate. Some species of trees grow more slowly than others so you need to get started as soon as planting season arrives.

Installation (Getting It Done):
Spring and fall are the best times to plant. Be sure to follow planting instructions and err on the side of digging too large a hole. Be sure to incorporate organic material in the planting soil and to stake trees to provide mechanical support. Mulch heavily and water thoroughly during summer dry spells.

Be sure to get bids from two or three (or more) nurseries and/or landscaping contractors if you choose not to plant the trees yourself. Multiple bids will allow you to gain immediate perspective on the true costs and value of trees in your area.

References:
Cooling Our Communities, A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing, US EPA 22P-2001, January, 1992.

More Information On This Topic:

U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: Landscaping

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resource Conservation Service: Windbreaks

I read this article in the latest issue of Broker Agent News but realized that it’s for everyone, not just Realtors:

Do you ever wonder what is holding you back? Do you ever wonder what is stopping you from having all the clients, all the money, and all the transactions that you desire?

Chances are that you have all the skills and knowledge you need.

Have you ever said to yourself, “I know what I should be doing, I’m just not doing it.”?

That is a clear signal that you are being undermined by self limiting beliefs that may not even be conscious, such as:

“I’m not worthy of success”,
“It’s selfish to pray for money”,
“Rich people are dishonest”,
“I should just be happy with what I have and not want more”,
“I am a failure and not worthy of money.”

Let me give you an example from a client of mine:

Although his efforts to be successful were sincere, he had unknowingly been carrying around “anti-success” beliefs his whole life, such as:
“I don’t have what it takes”
“I can’t be successful like others”
“I have to settle for less”
“I have to struggle and sacrifice to make money”
“I’m not worthy of having money”

In our weekly sessions, it became clear that the origins of these self limiting beliefs went back quite a ways. A real breakthrough for him came during one of our sessions, when he recalled that as a child he tried extremely hard to get his parents approval.

Because his parents were not forthcoming with their approval, he concluded subconsciously that he was a “failure”, and that he did not deserve success.

This resulted in him never achieving the level of success he wanted, not getting the transactions that he deserved, and beating himself up continually with self “put downs”.

When he realized where all of this came from, he had the insight that his whole feeling of unworthiness was false. He further realized that it was not his fault that his parents did not approve of him, as they were withholding people.

He began to install Empowered beliefs such as:
“I am successful”
“I am worthy”
“I am generous with my approval for myself”

His assignment was to practice giving himself a generous amount of positive self talk everyday. In fact if he caught himself putting himself down, he resolved to intervene, interrupt the process and put in a positive new thought in its place, such as “I can do anything I set my mind to do.”

Once he began practicing his Empowered Beliefs, he could practice the Law of Attraction without the interference of counter intentions. Not surprisingly, his energy increased, as well as his clients and income.

His story illustrates the importance of identifying and reprogramming self limiting beliefs. 

HOST Development, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping first-time homebuyers, is demonstrating that green homes aren’t just for wealthy neighborhoods.  When they acquired 4 acres in the middle of Portland in 2006, group leaders knew they had a chance to raise the stakes.  HOST originally planned to build more than 50 homes and condos to LEED for Homes standards, but when the USGBC’s neighborhood development pilot came along, they took matters a step further, planning green infrastructure, efficient water usage and adding mass transit and an on-site ride-sharing program called Flexcar.  The first homes went on sale in January, and assistant project manager Devin Culbertson expects the community could be complete by year’s end.  “Energy savings and indoor air quality for healthier kids really resonate with people,” he says.

Note: I found the above interesting article in the April issue of “Angie’s List”, Portland Edition.