Here is a plug for one of our clients. We made their home more comfortable and energy efficient.

I’m Randy Merrill, the owner of Cartridge World Atlanta and I’d like to share with you an idea to help save you money, help the community and save the planet with no inconvenience to you. We are currently saving Mount Vernon Presbyterian, Pace Academy and The Lovett School thousands of dollars a year on their ink and toner and we would like to do the same for you.

Our business is simple and successful. We take the empty casings of ink and toner cartridges and completely remanufacture them in our Vinings workshop. Through this process, we have a higher success rate vs. original manufacturer for a new cartridge or toner off the shelf. As a result, we are able to provide a savings of 25%-40% on each piece. Importantly, the dollars spent by you and your school go directly into our local economy, not overseas, which helps our community.

Finally, we recycle to reduce landfill waste. One toner casing requires 1 gallon of oil to make, produces 3.5 pounds of waste and remains in the landfill for 450 years. Our remanufacturing process reuses your casing and reduces waste.

We also offer free delivery for orders over $100.

We can save you money, put your printing dollars back into your community, help save the planet and our delivery (orders > $100) is free.

It would be our pleasure to provide you with a quote and you can compare the savings for you and the benefits for our community and planet.

In a neighborhood where the neighbors are paying hundreds in utility costs due to inefficient homes- one of our clients just gave us this feedback on their home:

This is for their power usage…

July – 543 kwh – $60
Aug – 483 Kwh – $56
Sep – 455 kwh -   $53
Oct – 352 kwh -   $43

This was not a new home- it was a renovation!! To find out how you can get these kinds of savings on your home visit Fresh World.  We were able to accomplish this by making the home energy efficient with good insulation, windows and air sealing.  In addition to an efficient design, we were able to add solar thermal and geothermal HVAC.

Last year we were the builder of the new showcase house for the Southern Builing Show-a LEED Gold house called Ecolumina.  You can visit it at www.Ecolumina.org.  This year’s showcase home is a  green renovation to an existing historical home in the Druid Hills neighborhood of Atlanta.  It is renovated to EarthCraft renovation standards.  If you will attending the Southern Building Show this year there will be tours ot the house on Thursday and Friday.  Here is more information about our house:  Renew House

One of our projects got so much attention on the first day that that we decided to create a website to better explain what we are doing so you all can follow the progress without having to come on site.  Myself, Eco Home Guy and the homeowner are posting on the site blog as we see fit.  It is going to be certified as a LEED for Homes house once it is completed!  Come visit it at Lake Claire LEED.

It is tough out there in the marketplace right now and I see many people getting confused about the difference between price and value.  Since we are a green contractor we face these challenges quite often.  Since we are not the most expensive or the least expensive in price we are able to make our homeowners feel like they are being treated fairly.

So what is this value term that we keep hearing about?

Is it possible to be a higher price and the low cost provider?  Yes!

That is where value comes into play.  We typically are not going to be the lowest price since we are typically providing more items than other contractors.  Can you see the difference in the proposal or contracts?  Sometimes, but not all of the time.  Here are some key things to look for that may cost a little more but provide a greater value:

Energy Efficiency- this is the low hanging fruit and is easy to sell.  By adding a small amount to the budget to make your home or building more efficient you are able to save money on your utilities.  If you are financing the project for 15 years or more than you should be cash flow positive immediately.  That is VALUE!

Durability- I love the phrase- “You get what you pay for”  My wife and I were having a chat this morning about this very subject.  She made the comment that most people go for the cheapest price thinking that they are getting a better deal.  Well- we did just that a few years ago.  We got a dishwasher that was a couple hundred bucks less than the what I should have purchased.  We have paid hundreds in repair fees just to get the dishwasher to a mediocre performance.  WAS A CHEAPER PRICE, BUT NOT A GOOD VALUE!  It cost us more over 5 years than then higher initial price of the better dishwasher.

This does not take into account the mental anxiety that we both have had to go through when we unload the dishwasher and out dishes are not clean.  So we have to wash them again- not resource efficient.  I finally had enough about a month ago and have ordered a new dishwasher.  Last week I got an e-mail letting me know that they just got ENERGY STAR partner of the Year!  My clients have used this dishwasher and have been very pleased with the results.

HIGHER PRICE, BUT A BETTER VALUE!  It also comes with a good warranty.  This is something that we offer to our clients as well that our competition does not.  All of our renovation come with a 3 year warranty where our competition stays with a 1 year one.  How can we afford to do this?  We use better products and install them with good craftsmen.  This lowers that amount that we have to fix and pay for!  THAT IS A GREAT VALUE!

The brand that I chose to go with for my house was a Bosch dishwasher.  Here is the press release that I just received that added even more value to what I just purchased.

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Here is part II of the Series on affordable greenovations.  A few weeks back I posted Part I.

Here are a few things that you can do to help with Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)

I have been asked the question “Can ‘Luxury’ & ‘Green’ co-exist?”  My response is that if it is a luxurious house that it must be green these days in order to be accepted.  If you are already at the price point of luxury, adding the green element should not cost you more money.  It is accepted that green options are more durable and therefor more high end in some cases so yes luxury and green must co-exist.

Here in the Atlanta are we have many LEED for Homes and EarthCraft House projects that are both luxurious and green.  The first one to get most people’s attentions was EcoManor.  Laura and Rutherford Seydel brought green to the the mainstream’s attention in Atlanta as they built the first LEED certified house in Georgia. Visit their site at EcoManor.

I was privileged to be the builder of the 2008 Southern Building Show showcase house which will be LEED certified as well.  It features many of the green options and technologies available in the area. Many builders and homeowners alike have benefited from our clients willingness to show their house and share their ideas.  To see some of the vendors and their green story visit: Ecolumina

Note- both of these homes are green and high end, yet they do not “look green.”   Not sure what green is supposed to look like, however these house did not have to compromise design in order to perform better.

Last month I read an article in the WSJ that kept made me even happier to be in the green building profession. This first quarter has been the busiest for us in years. 2009 is truly a new year, and I am hearing from multiple sources that it is a green year (specifically as it relates to energy efficiency). Now forecasts are showing that the demand for people like me outstrips the supply. I like to think that this is true since we have a lot of green leads and we are giving each the attention that they deserve. I do have a couple of concerns in the new green economy that we all need to be aware of:

1. I am seeing people from outside the building industry jump on the green bandwagon with their green services. While I admire their enthusiasm and will support their efforts, lack of actual experience in construction could hurt them. They need to partner up with people that do have construction experience in order to avoid costly mistakes.

2. Yes, the demand is up, but if financing is not available that makes sense then that could be a problem. We also need property values to not be at an all time low so the comps are there so people can borrow money to build green.

I am still very excited about this market and believe that green initiatives coupled with capitalistic market forces will bring in great opportunities for those who chose the path of sustainability.  I see huge opportunities are in existing buildings. They need help. Most of them are not going anywhere and are still being used even though they are not efficient.  Business owners and howeowners alike see the value in make energy and water efficient upgrades since it does affect their bottom line.

Here is the article that provoked my thought in the first place. more…

The Hoots Group and Waldenour are going to be hosting part of a week long affordable housing training here in Atlanta, GA.  Our portion of it will cover green materials and practice that should not cost more.  We will also be presenting sustainable techniques that will save property owners and occupants money while living in a healthier environment.

Green has been promoted as being more expensive and a better method of construction.  I agree that it is better, but it is smarter construction and should not have to cost more.  There are may affordable ways of going green that should be standard practice for all builders and designers even if they are not green.

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I was fortunate to be able to speak to many groups this year about green building and already have about 6 presentations already scheduled for next year.  A few months ago I was interviewed to talk about why we do the presentations and how can benefit from them.  A lot of good questions have come out of our presentations and I do feel that most of the audience took some information that they can apply to their daily lives or business practice.

This was recently featured in Professional Remodeler:

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A friend of mine asked for me to give a tour of our green projects to her daughter and classmates a few days ago.  They were all upperclassmen at The Galloway School here in Atlanta.  The class was part of a course that focuses mainly on sustainability.  I knew that they might know a little about green building so I was looking forward to talking to them and sharing what I knew about sustainable design.

I have given tour to GA Tech students, green builders and many other very qualified professionals and I must say that these high schools students may actually have come better prepared than many of the other tour groups.  As I was explaining the different technologies in the house, I did not get the sense that this was the first time that they were exposed to green building.  I went into the details on how geothermal HVAC worked, they told me that they have seen that already (I think that is what they have for HVAC at their school).  I proceeded to show them the Solar Power and the Solar Water heaters and they seemed interested in that as well and asked very good questions.

I began to talk about Indoor Air Quality and why you need to have clean air in a green house.  I asked them what the number 2 cause of lung cancer in the US was.  One of the female students guessed Radon correctly on her first try.

These kids are smart and I feel like our future is in good hands as I work with students like these and get to speak to the students as GA Tech that are interested in sustainable building as well.

Not only are they learning about sustainable practices but they are entering their school into a competition in about one month as well.  The goal is to show a significant energy savings over other schools in the competition.  If course, I volunteered my time to help guide into victory.  You never know they may end up working with me one day.  It is a good investment into our future.

Thanks to progressive schools such as Galloway, the future definately looks green for us.

My other post on Advanced Performance Systems talks about the advanced green mechanical systems that you can add to your house.  The Southern Building Show also requested that I talk about “green building basics” for those who are new to green building and are a bit intimidated by all of the green jargon.  This presentation is formatted for those who want some basic tools to be able to start offering sustainable practices within their business.  Here is a brief description of the presentation:

“Are you a builder or architect that wants to go green but does not know where to start? Green builder and Performance contractor, Matt Hoots will be going through the basics of green building and  will demystify all of the basic terms and practices of green building and design.  Green building is easy.  Matt will give you the tools to have a better understanding of how to build and design green.  After this class, you will feel much more confident when you get the question from your clients, “Are you green?”

Next June at the Southern Building Show in Atlanta, I will be giving a couple of presentations on green building.  The first one will be on Advanced Performance Systems.  The target market is the builder and architect community that already has a basic understanding of green building, but anyone that is interested in the subject is welcome to attend.   Here a description as it will be promoted for the show:

“Are you a green builder, architect or building professional that know all of the basics of green builidng and want to take your knowleadge and business to the next level?   Green builder and Performance contractor, Matt Hoots will be going through the principles of advanced mechanical systems on buildings in a simple format.  At the end of the course, you will have the tools and knowledge to plan for systems such as Geothermal HVAC, Solar water heating, Solar power, and Advanced water systems.”

If you read Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Part I, you will be happy to hear the GA Tech is also working on green power as well.  UGA is doing great things with pine trees, while GA Tech is more focused on the sun.

In the wake of the presidential election lots of talk is coming to the surface about renewable energy.  In the post about GA, I talked about biomass technology.  In this post the focus will be on Solar technologies, specifically Photovoltaic (PV).  Our president elect has proposed that we stop the dependence on foreign oil once again and take out energy needs into our own hands.  By the year 2012, the US is aiming to produce 10% of it’s energy with renewable energy and by the year 2025, we are aiming for a 25% renewable energy portfolio.

GA is in a good position to benefit from this.  Last year a GA professor annoucened that he was going to take his research public and create solar cells here in GA.  The PV cells will be added to solar panels to create energy from the sun.  They have already begun production and have Billions of dollars of product in orders already.  This is good for GA and the US because it is being produced here in GA.

Here is a little about the company Suniva and it’s founder as found on their website:

“Suniva evolved from the work of Professor Ajeet Rohatgi of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics. A DoE Center of Excellence since 1992, UCEP has distinguished itself as the premier site for silicon PV research in the U.S.  Bringing a unique approach of uniting cell modeling, device design, process optimization and materials analysis and characterization, UCEP has consistently proven to be a valuable resource to government and industrial partners.  This competency has driven efforts of the Center to evolve from that of a purely academic research environment to one of being a hands-on industry resource focused on practical solutions for commercial processing of PV materials and devices.  This led to the formation of Suniva, which holds exclusive rights to over 32 granted and pending patents (from 20 patent families) of Dr. Rohatgi and UCEP.”

GO Jackets!  Go Solar!

When we built the 2008 Southern Building Showcase house, we used Superior Walls for the foundation.  In a typical install the foundation wall can go in within the day and it ready to start framing immediately.  For the 2009 house we are taking it a step further and are going to do a partial addition on an existing house with this product as well.

The rendering to the left is what the house is going to look like.

One of the sales reps just sent me this postcard that talks about the difference between superior walls and other types of concrete walls.

For more info on this product visit Superior Walls of Atlanta or call: