Good news for contractors regarding the new Lead based paint law.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
www.nahb.org


NAHB Applauds EPA'S Decision to Delay Lead Paint Certification Enforcement

WASHINGTON, June 21--The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to delay enforcement of the new Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule will provide much-needed time to get more remodelers and other contractors trained - and for EPA to get the word out to consumers about the importance of hiring a certified remodeler, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

"EPA listened to our concerns and did the right thing," said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a builder and developer in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

In revised guidance released on Friday, EPA acknowledged that remodelers in many parts of the country have been unable to obtain the required training to comply with the rule - a problem that NAHB has urged the agency to solve since the rule was announced two years ago.

The issue came to a head in May after floods devastated parts of Tennessee and there weren't enough certified remodelers to complete much-needed home repairs. NAHB and its state home builders association proposed a delay in enforcing the rule -- a decision EPA consented to in its letter on Friday.

While remodelers, electricians, heating and air conditioning technicians and other contractors must adhere to lead-safe work practices, including special equipment filters and a ban on open flames, EPA will not take enforcement action against firms that have been unable to obtain certification until Oct. 1 of this year.

Individual contractors must apply to enroll in a training class by Sept. 30 and complete the training by Dec. 31, 2010.

"This rule potentially affects about 79 million homeowners. That's how many homes were built before 1978, when lead paint was banned," Jones said. "We need significantly more contractors certified than the 300,000 who have taken the training course, and we also need to make sure that affected homeowners understand the importance of hiring a certified contractor."

Homeowners can find a certified firm at this link. Remodelers can search for an EPA-approved training provider at this link or contact their local home builders association here to find Certified Renovator training sessions.


ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington-based trade association representing more than 175,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country.

Toilet to Tap Campaign? They need a better name!

The City of San Diego City Council just approved a campaign to educate people about reusing greywater. Details can be found here: http://sandiegonewsroom.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40233:toilet-to-tap-campaign-approved-by-council&catid=110:city-of-san-diego&Itemid=34

Summary:

San Diego currently imports almost 80 percent of its water from outside the region, according to Coastkeeper Executive Director Bruce Reznik, who addressed the city council on Tuesday. This campaign seeks to lessen the city’s reliance on energy and expensive imported water. “Our over reliance on these sources has tremendous environmental and economic impacts on our region,” Recycling wastewater into drinking water is a reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to enhance our local water supplies,” said Reznik.

I agree wholeheartedly. Years ago a friend of mine had a porcelain device on top of his toilet tank that took the clean tank water before it went into the toilet and pumped it like a faucet into a small sink that rested on the top of the tank. It was brilliant!! One could wash their hands after peeing with the toilet tank water and not turn on the sink tap and waste water. The soapy hand washing water just went into the tank for the next flush. I recently saw one of these online and vowed to purchase it, just can't remember where I saw it!

The name of the campaign though - Toilet to Tap? What are they smoking? This does not make me want to recycle my grey water, it makes me think the toilet water, not the tank water is being used for the tap.

Recycling grey water is surely the future.

Urban Sprawl and Sustainability in So Cal

KPCC/NPR has just run a 3 part series on sustainability and Los Angeles. In part 1, about smart growth for LA, Abdres Duany, a Miami based urban planner is interviewed:

"Southern California is a laboratory for everything that can go wrong in urban design, says Andres Duany. Also: he likes that. "You can find probably California has pioneered suburban sprawl and every aspect of it," he says. "But at the same time California has all the best examples of things as well. There are wonderful downtowns. Wonderful urban agricultural areas. And I think California is probably a good example of as good as things can get and as bad as things can get."

Part 2 address issues of mega cities, those with over 10 million population (wow! - I don;t think the entire country of Austrailia has that many people) and brings up the point that "people can’t make sustainable homes unless they think about problems across an entire region. But he adds that it’s impossible to improve the environment on a mega-city scale without starting in just one house."

In part 3 of the series, Architect Michael Maltzan, a sustainable architect, is interviewed. There are some neat things happenning in LA including sustainable housing for the homeless. As an EcoBrokerTM, I often write about residential sustainable housing as it relates to your home and maybe to those in your neighborhood. This feature story brings out a good point about your home in relation to the overall urban design:

"Passive heating and cooling, reduced energy consumption, and filtered
indoor air are common in Maltzan's work. But he says that sustainability is
bigger and more complicated than ultra-efficient internal systems and
eco-friendly building materials. For example, architects and urban designers
will have to commit to the efficient use of public space - and the zealous
protection of privacy - to help cities thrive. 'As our lives become more
interconnected I think one of the complexities of the contemporary life is
increasingly that blurry line between public and private and what that
means.' In a city like Los Angeles, Maltzan says, where public plazas are in
short supply, the blurry line is often the street and the sidewalk
themselves."

So, as we head to urbanization throughout the country including Southern California, we do need to think about our little piece of heaven in it's surroundings.

Read more about it at: http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/12/30/sustainable-home-3/

Portal to Home Buying Heaven & Meeting Heaven

HUD has a great portal with links to all the info on the programs the Federal Housing Administration has for homebuyers. Her eyou can find the Making Home Affordable program description, as well as the energy efficient mortgages (green mortgages) and links to agencies that help you avoid forclosure that are approved by HUD and the FHA. You can even ask a question via e-mail if you don't see what you need.

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/federal_housing_administration

On another note, rather than listing all the green events in So Cal, I urge you to go to http://www.meetup.com/. In Orange County, the group is called "Going Green in Orange County", but you can search within meetup for any topic you are interested in, and you will be directed to all the meetings taking place in your area for that topic. I just went to meetup, and searched "Green Home" and found 186 meetups within 25 miles of Dana Point! Never a dull moment!!!

Going Green in Orange County is organized by Evan Little, who is also a Certified EcoBroker® working with Surterre Properties. Speaking of Evan and the great work he is doing in OC to promote green living, he sent me an e-mail about this event I think is definately worth mentioning (one of 186!!):

A Breath of Fresh Air: Inside and Out

Enjoy an engaging evening in one of Orange County's newest, green luxury homes. Sample consciously prepared hors d'oeuvres & refreshments from some of the county's top chefs while you tour the home. Mingle with leading air quality and environmental toxicity experts while we collectively raise funds and awareness for the American Lung Association in California. Celebrity Guests, Organic Wines & Spirits, Consciously Prepared Hors d'Oeuvres, Guided "Green" Home Tours, Mingle with Air Quality Experts, Check out a New Tesla Roadster Electric Car, Learn steps to clean up your air...

Live Presentations by:
• Green Nest • American Lung Association CA • Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D. you have to rsvp, here's the link:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/reg_new/register.asp?ievent=306322&lis=1&kntae306322=78CCF312CEA14252B6A288593B3538EE&teamAction=none

Green Building and Real Estate is Booming in So Cal!

I went to the HUD Symposium on Green Building last week at Chapman University, and came back with my brain and bag loaded with great information. We got to see an abbreviated version of "An Inconvenient Truth" presented by the Climate Project. http://www.climateproject.org/ and I was so encouraged to see the government was presenting this! I think the ostrich's head is finally out of the sand! Anyway, I made some great connections with mortgage lenders with tons of experience with EEMs (Energy Efficient Mortgages -see my post from: April 27, 2009) and Energy Auditors, Certified Build it Green Companies, and so much more.

Also found out about some great programs where foreclosures are purchased by non-profits, remodeled green, then offered at a great discount to low income families. The families are helped with their down payment and also with part of the purchase price through HUD grants and these programs. More info on this can be found at: www.enterprisecommunity.org/about/media/news_releases/.../RNLA_pr_2009.pdf

The organizers of the symposium promised to post all the power point presentations on the web soon, so I will post the link when I get it for everyone. In the meantime, I have loads of information on my website: http://www.socalgreenrealty.com/ or http://www.ocgreenrealty.com/

TELE-BLOG AND WRITTEN BLOG

You may not be aware that I post a green tele-blog on my voice mail each week with green tips. Check it out at: 949-306-3854. I've decided to start doing a different green tip each week here on this written blog also.

Green tip of the week:

The HUD Symposium's presentation of the Climate Project reminded me that:

If you have not seen "An Inconvenient Truth"by Al Gore (who by the way won an Academy Award and a Nobel Prize for this work!) see it now! More information and resources can be found on http://www.theclimateproject.org/, http://www.wecansolveit.org/, http://www.realclimate.org/

Discover why the issue of Global Warming is so very important and be encouraged, as we are taking a lot of steps as a country and world to deal with it. I believe human ingenuity can and will come up with solutions to every problem.