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According to a recent website survey by Apartments.com, 89 percent of their responding visitors indicated a preference for living in a green apartment community. Is your apartment building green enough to attract new residents and not lose current ones? The business case for sustainability is broad and compelling.
Although the building industry hopes to make the designation mandatory, the Certified Residential Green Appraiser course – sponsored by Earth Advantage Institute and Watkins & Associates -is the only national certification program currently available for appraisers.
Expect to have window farms, aquaponic systems and other farming techniques incorporated in and on your property by your tenants. Can you control the urban agriculture on your property or will it control you?
Taylor Watkins owns a professional appraisal firm in Portland, is a frequent speaker on green appraising techniques and teaches the Certified Residential Green Appraiser course as part of a vibrant, education and awareness campaign. He is also a bit of a local celebrity within the sustainability community, as he built one of the first net-zero dwelling units in Portland about five years ago. He was kind enough to consent to our exclusive interview.
Michael Reynolds, famed experimental architect and builder, features an interactive map on his website that he hopes to use to encourage, inspire or perhaps even shame building departments into better practices. Reynolds invites contributors to out their building departments and help him add their counties onto the map.
Perhaps a better approach than wagging fingers at iinadvertent energy hogs is to make the right choices easier. For instance, “Would you rather have solar energy or wind for your entree? How about a side of low-flow dual flush toilets and a faucet aerator with your order?”
Of course, in the real world it is not that simple. Even the choir has a difficult time incorporating green features into their existing buildings because of the difficulty of documenting their value. Real estate appraisers are in the same pickle jar. They must examine the cost to build, replacement value, income (if any) and use comparable sales to support the final value. Except there aren’t any comparable sales in most neighborhoods. At least, not yet.
We choose and invite others to be fellow participants in the quest to replace old habits with better and more sustainable ones. Starting our own adopt-a-green-neighbor campaign may seem gutsy, but most of us respond to the pressure of our peers. We can use this natural instinct to mimic each other in a good way.
Jean-Pierre Veillet and Doug Shapiro, partners in a mixed-use development pursuing a Net-Zero energy operation known as ecoFLATS, believe that they have created the next 100 year model for market rate sustainable apartments. Here is a glimpse into the world of designing and eventually financing an innovative, inner-city sustainable design.
The authors emphasize green building is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor before breaking it down into case studies. These are documented with technical data in diagrams, photos and detail and suddenly it all makes complete sense. If you are a doubter or ‘climate change agnostic’, this book may change your life. The authors respect the reader, never preach and simply spell out the facts.
