pam's blog
Go Box - And you thought there were no careers left in trash
of waste prevention is to reduce first, reuse next and last, but not least,
to recycle. This has been the industry mantra for years. When it comes to the
Portland food cart scene there aren't many options to reduce. The nature of the
business prevents reduction -- your food is sold in a to-go container after all.
As this article explains, one Portlander is starting her own business, Go Box, tackling
the reuse portion of the heirachy. If successful, this will cut tens of
thousands of pounds helplessly headed to the landfill. I know what you're
thinking -- what about all those biodegradable and compostable containers?
Unless you are set up for commercial scale composting at home (which you
aren't), those to-go containers are trash.
remains to be proven, but where there's trash there's still a living to be made.
Green Professional Conference in Portland, January 26
I attended this conference last year. It was very well organized and did an amazing job of harnessing the expertise of both professionals and job seekers. In sum, I witnessed valuable networking and real jobs being offered! Here's the description
The Green Professionals Conference (GPC) is an event for students and professionals; providing learning, networking, and employment opportunities within the sustainability industry.
Mashable releases their Top 100
Mashable released their annual list of new Green Living Sites this week. GreenRenter made the list under Search Engines, Directories and Guides. Other topics include carbon calculators, charitable giving, dating, and local information. I met the founder of Rate it Green at the West Coast Green conference last week. I was happy to see this great resource on the list. Rate it Green has some spunk and a lot of detail. Keep your eyes on them!
GlobeSt.com shares more of our story
GlobeSt.com, a real estate investment website, contacted us last week for an interview. It was a great chance to discuss how the company got started and where we are heading.
GreenRenter wants to make it easier for owners of green buildings to find potential tenants. Launched earlier this year, the site lists commercial and residential properties in Portland, OR, the hometown of the site's three founders--Pam Neild, Lev Tsypin and Marti Frank. "We're working out the kinks, refining the site and improving functionality. Once we've got our concept down, we'll expand to other US cities," Neild says. In the first of a two-part article, GlobeSt.com asked Neild to explain the origins of the site.
SustainLane 2008 US City Rankings - Portland Number One Again
I'm so proud to live in Portland. As this article aptly states, about the only thing keeping half the country away from Portland is our ridiculous 40 inches of rainfall a year. Today, SustainLane announced its US City Rankings for 2008. You guessed it, Portland is numero uno!
Portland renters guaranteed the right to recycle
The Oregonian reports on the law which requires that recycling be provided to all multifamily residents. GreenRenter is mentioned as a resource.
Rainwater harvesting and wastewater reuse
Great news!
The Oregon State Plumbing Board last Friday passed new
standards that will allow homeowners to install systems that reuse wastewater
for flushing toilets. The board also created a statewide standard for rainwater
harvesting in residential and commercial buildings.
The new ruling for alternate methods will make it easier
for building owners to save water and will ultimately help the state meet its
goals for energy savings and water conservation through new green building
standards, said Mark Long, administrator of the state Building Codes Division,
which oversees the Plumbing Board.
Higher Occupancy, Higher Lease Rates for Green Buildings
The following from http://www.buildinggreen.com demonstrates the value of going green.
"Buildings that carry LEED or Energy Star certifications have higher occupancy rates and lease for more dollars per square foot than their peers, according to the CoStar Group, a company that provides information services to the commercial real estate industry. CoStar tapped into its database covering billions of square feet of commercial buildings for a study released in March 2008. CoStar’s summation of the study, which noted consistently better financial metrics for green buildings, argues that, “Non-green buildings are going to become obsolete. As described, however, the study shows a correlation between higher value and green labels, but it lacks evidence that LEED and Energy Star are the cause of that increased value. These results could just be reflecting the tendency for higher-value properties to pursue certification. Either way, however, it shows that the commercial real estate market associates green performance with value."
Strengthening the business case for building green
Two
recently released studies validate that third party certified buildings, like LEED, outperform their conventional
counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings,
occupancy rates, sale price and rental rates.
According to the CoStar study, LEED
buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot over their non-LEED
peers and have 3.8 percent higher occupancy. Rental rates in ENERGY STAR
buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot premium over comparable non- ENERGY
STAR buildings and have 3.6 percent higher occupancy.
Find the studies at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=77#usgbc_publications.
And, http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=D968F1E0DCF73712B03A099E0E99C679.
Green Renter posted on Seeing Green
We are being picked up by bloggers around the country, but SeeingGreen is local. It's a nice write up and a great blog.
