Concerns about energy costs, global warming, and state and local government initiatives to reduce residential and commercial buildings’ impact on climate change have brought green real estate center stage.
In January 2008, C.A.R. President William E. Brown created the Green Task Force, a group comprised of C.A.R. members designed to guide C.A.R. on an initiative to become greener, and most importantly, to educate the public about the importance of and relevance of green real estate. The mission of the task force is to:
· Raise awareness and educate members and consumers about environmentally sound practices.
· Encourage the greening of C.A.R. business practices.
· Encourage C.A.R. to form strategic alliances in support of environmentally sound practices.
To date, C.A.R. and the Green Task Force have taken these steps to green the organization and meet these goals:
http://green.car.org
If you are reading this, you have arrived at C.A.R.’s green Web site, a site where REALTORS®, homeowners, and future home buyers can learn more about green real estate. This site was launched in September 2008 in an effort to provide education about the basics of “green real estate,” how to find a “green home,” or make a home greener.
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Agents can share their green sensibilities and REALTOR® brand with clients and farm with Green Living Tips, a professionally designed four-page brochure from C.A.R. that's chock-full of tips that will save clients money and improve their home’s energy efficiency.
Green Issue of California Real Estate magazine
In September 2008, C.A.R. published “The Green Issue,” a single-themed issue dedicated to the topic of green real estate. The issue was designed as a primer for REALTORS®, addressing everything from how to determine if a home is green to green mortgages and an interview with urban environmentalist Ed Begley Jr.
Click the image to view the entire issue.
C.A.R.’s Green Video
As part of C.A.R.’s Green Initiative, a short video featuring four green-savvy REALTORS® who are marketing their knowledge to consumers is available for viewing. Here, these agents—and their clients—share what “green” means to them. This three-and-a-half-minute video has useful tips and insights for other agents.
Green Tips
Beginning in March 2008, each issue of Newsline, a weekly e-letter sent to C.A.R.’s 165,000 members, contains a Green Tip, a quick, informative idea for greening REALTOR® offices or businesses.
Green Principles
The task force also has developed Green Principles, ethical standards for practitioners.
ClientDIRECTTM
In April 2008, subscribers of ClientDIRECTTM, a free agent-branded e-letter targeting consumers, noticed the addition of a green-themed article in each monthly edition. Topics to date have covered green landscaping, green homes, internal air quality, and decoding plastics’ recyclable codes.
Green Blog
In April 2008, C.A.R. launched a members-only green-themed blog, a site where members can share their ideas and experiences with all things related to green real estate.
Green Survey
In order to assess members’ awareness of green and sustainability topics and help establish goals for the future, C.A.R. conducted an online survey of its members to gauge their awareness of green real estate topics. One finding of this survey revealed that 93.2 percent of REALTOR® respondents agreed with the question: I believe it is important for real estate agents to become knowledgeable about green real estate trends and practices?
CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO
Starting in 2008, at the Association’s annual EXPO, an event that drew approximately 10,000 attendees, C.A.R. strove to make the event—and future events and business meetings—greener. That included partnering with green vendors, and specifically at the 2008 EXPO, providing green-themed educational sessions: “Green Keynote: Sustainable Lives: Live Simply So Others Can Simply Live,” presented by urban environmental activist and actor Ed Begley Jr.; “Building Green-Environmentally Friendly, Sustainable Developments”; “Creating Communities for the 21st Century”; and “Going Green: What It Takes to Be Green and Why Every REALTOR® Needs to Get There.”
In addition, the following changes occurred at the 2008 CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO:
* Event’s registration bag was made from seven recycled two-liter plastic bottles and un-dyed fabric.
* Badge holder was made from two recycled two-liter plastic bottles.
* Badge was printed on Eucalyptus-based paper.
* Water dispensers iwere used nstead of plastic water bottles, saving approximately 2,500 bottles.
* Leftover food was donated each day to a local charity to reduce landfill waste.
* Used recycled carpet throughout exhibit hall and green pavilion.
* Used banners printed on recycled paper in green pavilion.
* Usedrecycled drapes for every exhibit booth.
* Used paper cups made from recycled paper.
* Placed 50 recycling bins throughout convention center.
C.A.R.’s Offices
Sacramento Office: C.A.R.’s Sacramento office is located at 980 9th St. in Sacramento, and is managed by CB Richard Ellis, a firm very committed to sustainability. The building, including the C.A.R. office, has been ENERGY STAR-rated for the past two years and is currently applying for LEED® certification.
Los Angeles Office: Prior to the formation of the Green Task Force, the Los Angeles staff began upgrading its four-story circa 1964 office building. Many of these capital improvements were green and have resulted in better energy efficiency. In 2006 and 2007, the following upgrades and installations were made: water-saving urinals and toilets; an HVAC control system and variable-speed fan motors; T8 fluorescent lights with low-energy ballasts; new air ducts; interior/exterior water-based paints; environmentally friendly carpet; padding, and mastic; and energy-efficient appliances.
Since the creation of the Green Task Force, C.A.R. has implemented the following:
• Started recycling warehouse pallets, computer monitors, printers, and other electronic equipment.
• Replaced an informal recycling program for cans, bottles, and plastic bottles with a formal recycling program.
• In June 2008, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power performed an observatory audit of the C.A.R.’s Los Angeles office to spot obvious energy “leakers” and “vampires.” The DWP reported that C.A.R.’s efforts placed the organization ahead of many L.A. businesses. These efforts resulted in a reduction of nearly 28 percent in kilo-watt hours of electricity consumption, as measured from June 2007 through May 2008.
• Used low-VOC paint throughout building.
• Resealed 172 windows to reduce energy waste.
• Instituted program to recycle toner cartridges.
• Begun recycling cardboard boxes.
• Provided public transportation assistance for employees.
• Installed 20 water-saving toilets and eight water-saving urinals.
• Retrofitted elevators with energy-saving control panels.
• Replaced exit signs with units using low energy power.
• Installed T8 fluorescent lights with low-energy ballast.
• Installed variable-speed HVAC fan motors to reduce power consumption.
• Installed HVAC control system in 2007 to reduce energy consumption of overall system.
• Installed water treatment system for the water tower and boiler.
• Replaced ductwork in many areas to reduce air loss and increase efficiency.
• Prohibited individual heaters in offices, to reduce energy consumption.
• Installed new insulation product to aid in reduction of energy loss.
• Replaced carpet in elevator cabs with carpet made from 80 percent recycled materials and installed with environmentally friendly glue.
• Used ENERGY STAR-rated appliances in employee kitchen.
Modifications to business practices currently underway or being explored:
• Performing second round of replacement for lights throughout building.
• Exploring the use of an economizer, which uses outside air to cool the building.
• Exploring the use of a trash compactor, which would reduce the number of trash pickups per week.
• Installing an economizer in the vending machines, which will turn on the refrigeration in the machine as needed, instead of allowing it to run constantly.