Event: Pepco’s Appliance Swap

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Fridge on the fritz? Air conditioner gone AWOL? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade. Bring your old, inefficient, energy-sucking appliance to Pepco’s 2010 D.C. Appliance Swap on Saturday 7/24 from 10 am to 2 pm at The Home Depot at 901 Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast DC.

At the event, you can drop off appliances for recycling at no charge and pick up applications for rebates on certain ENERGY STAR qualified appliances.

During the event, Pepco will also announce the winners of its $5,000 ENERGY STAR Appliance Rebate Sweepstakes. Five D.C. customers will receive $1,000 gift cards to The Home Depot to be put towards the purchase of new, more efficient appliances.

The event will also feature live entertainment, refreshments, interactive displays on energy conservation, and family-friendly activities. Several D.C. government agencies, including the D.C. Department of the Environment, the District Public Service Commission, and the D.C. Office of People’s Counsel also will be on-hand.

So Others May Eat (SOME) Builds Greener

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

SOME helps the poor and homeless of DC with food, clothing, and healthcare. And since 2005, when SOME opened Independence Place, a permanent affordable housing program for families, they have been committed to basic green building standards. Here’s how SOME is building greener:

  • Increasing energy efficiency by choosing optimal insulation and quality windows, Energy Star appliances and light fixtures, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and daylight sensors.
  • Reducing water consumption with low-flow fixtures in kitchens and bathrooms.

When possible, SOME includes custom green building features in a project. For instance, at their Chesapeake Street and 50th Street properties, they are installing green roofs that will help manage storm water and reduce the “heat island effect.” At South Capitol Street, they will have a solar hot water heating system, and at Zagami House, they use point-of-use tankless hot water heaters.


Digg!

Open Green House

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Yes, the market is lousy but that doesn’t mean you should forgo your comittment to leaving a smaller footprint if you’re in the market for a new home. Enter Capitol Solar Condos on Harvard Street in Columbia Heights. There are three units starting at $499,000 for a 2 bedroom.

Claiming to be the first solar powered condos in DC, each unit also features Energy Star stainless steel appliances, bamboo floors, tankless water heaters, elongated soft flow dual flush toilets, motion sensor lighting and compact fluorescent lighting. And did we also mention they’re pretty stylin’ too? Btw–if you do end up buying one of these little beauties, tell Jen we sent ya.

Supersized “Green” Homes

Posted on by Sacha Cohen

Can a 10,000-square-foot house inhabited by a family of four really be called “green”? After all, a big part of being green is conserving space and resources. An article in The Washington Post tackles this topic, citing a 6,500 square-foot house in Northwest DC that has less energy costs than the builder’s 1,200 square-foot rambler in Silver Spring.

How is this possible? The builder, Jerry Zayets (owner of Nexxt Builders) used low-density foam insulation that takes the shape of whatever space it’s filling to seal air leaks. This so-called “envelope of the house” qualified the home as energy efficient under theEnergy Star program.

Some other ways to make a home greener (from the article) include:

  • Use compact fluorescent lighting.
  • Install a programmable thermostat.
  • Use energy-efficient appliances.
  • Landscape using trees and hedges to naturally shade the house during the summer.
  • Use materials that are renewable, contain recycled products, or that can be easily resused. Bamboo flooring, for example, is a popular option.