Cascade Built recently finished construction on Jackson Place Townhomes, a two-unit, urban infill project built to LEED Silver certification (currently only registered).  As you can tell, it has that undeniable modern appeal, which is stylishly intertwined with green construction and design.  For $485,000, you could walk away with one of these 2 bedroom, 1.75 bath, 1260 sf townhomes.  Good design is a like a square footage multiplier — the better the design, the smaller your space requirements. 

Read more »

There's something so rustic, so American about this project.  Two brothers.  A long history living on the land of your youth. 

Read more »

You may have heard about a huge mall, entertainment, tourist project in central New York called Destiny USA.  It’s quite the scheme that’s been in planning for many years.  I just caught news of some of their phase I and II plans for green building and energy.  For the 1.3 million sf Phase I, they retained Tangarie Energy to place sixteen, 5 kW drill-bit shaped wind turbines in the parking lot, which will produce roughly 64,000 – 84,000 kW hours of clean energy.  They also want to be 100% fossil fuel free and energy efficient, so we’ll probably hear more specific details in the future.  The turbines are designed to work well in lower wind speeds and should provide about 30% of their energy needs.   

Phase II will start in 2009.  For that, they’re planning a 1,300+ key hotel tower and conference facility, which will be built to LEED Platinum certification.  The unique looking hotel project, shaped almost like blades of grass, will generate electricity from its solar panel facade and hydro-electric turbines (using rainwater collected on the roof).  Once finished in 2012, it is planned to be the tallest building in upstate New York. 

Read more »

• Builders return to class for lessons in ‘green.’
• California energy regulators adopted a target that all homes built after 2020 produce at least as much energy as they consume.
• Going green draws talent, cuts costs.
• New eco-friendly condo towers defy the logic of the market downturn.
• Green building projects will skyrocket over next five years.

With the price of oil at $95 a barrel, economists estimate that U.S. households will spend an additional $90 billion on costlier gasoline.   Estimating our population at 300 million, that’s an average of $300 per person.   Between my wife and I, that means we’re giving up $600 of our economic pie to the recently increased cost of transportation, on average.

Read more »