With all the interest in green homes, it’s not often one comes on the market. That changed yesterday, with a beautiful, century-old Craftsman now for sale in Palo Alto. This home blends the character of an old home with modern comfort and conveniences.

Palo Alto firm Topos Architects remodeled this home following LEED Residential standards. They claim that, had the rating been available when the home was completed, it would have qualified for a LEED Gold rating.

How does this home qualify as being so green? Much of the existing building material was re-used within the remodel. Recycling efforts for the unusable material far exceeded Palo Alto’s requirements to minimize landfill.

Energy efficient design exceeds the California Energy Commission standards (Title 24) by 3%, reducing the owner’s energy consumption and utility costs. This is enhanced by passive solar design and tracked through an innovative resource monitor.

Building components that create the energy efficient envelope include highly rated windows, exterior doors, and insulation. Interior energy savers include the furnace, air conditioner, ventilation fan, water heater, toilets, and lighting with a lighting control system. Energy Star rated appliances (refrigerator, clothes washer, and dishwasher) add the finishing touches. 

If you’re ready to move into a green home, the $3 million price tag is a good value for the neighborhood. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, there’s a tear-down in a nearby neighborhood for almost $2 mil. You can still have your green dream home – it will just take longer to move in.

I see gray piles of crushed concrete as I’m driving by construction sites, looking like gigantic abandoned sandbox projects. We’re likely to see more of these piles as green concepts permeate the building industry.

According to the Concrete Network, recycling concrete from demolition project can result in considerable savings since it saves the costs of transporting concrete to the landfill (as much as $ .25 per ton/mile), and eliminates the cost of disposal (as high as $100 per ton). This savings to the contractor also results in greater environmental benefits, such as protecting natural resources, fewer pollutants from the transport of materials and reduced impact on our landfills.

Palo Alto’s “construction and demolition” program requires 90% of concrete and other inert solids be diverted. Santa Clara requires 50% to be recycled. San Jose, most of the cities within San Mateo county (and the County itself), and nine cities in Alameda county have also implemented these reuse and recycle programs.

Recycling of concrete is a relatively simple process. It involves breaking, removing, and crushing existing concrete into a material with a specified size and quality. The goal of a green remodeler is to use as much onsite as possible, says Iris Harrell of Harrell Remodeling.

Concrete Technology gives five applications of unprocessed recycled concrete, then five different applications after processing, including new concrete. So concrete really can be recycled into more concrete!

The photo is at 3270 West Bayshore as seen from 101. Other concrete piles can be seen at 899 Charleston and at Page Mill and Park. All are in Palo Alto.

I admit it. We save wine corks. They’re a reminder of good wines and good company. We hate to throw them away, but really, how many trivets can you make?

Enter an innovative wine cork recycling project by Yemm & Hart. Send your wine corks to their ongoing collection as they experiment with converting them into cork floor tiles. This would extend the life of this natural resource for decades more, while keeping the material out of our landfills. Yemm & Hart currently recycles tires, plastic detergent bottles, and PVC plastics into commercial and residential materials. 

Producing cork for wine bottles is already a sustainable practice. The bark is harvested in a way similar to sheering a sheep, allowing the trees to thrive. Cork oak forests provide a diverse ecosystem for plants and animals as well as serving as a barrier to the encroachment of the Sahara desert into Europe. All parts of the cork are used, so nothing is wasted until it gets to our table.

Plastic corks and screw top caps are threatening the cork producers and forests. So, drink wine stoppered with real corks, and then ship them off. Yemm & Hart accepts natural corks from anyone, consumer or retailer.

Wine Cork Recycling

Yemm & Hart Ltd

610 South Chamber Dr

Fredericktown  MO  63645

Thanks to Kirsten Flynn of Sustainable Home for bringing the program to my notice, and The Green Guide post. 

What did you do during your summer vacation? PACCC’s Neighborhood Infant Toddler Center was treated to a makeover. NITC is in a 50 year old adobe stucco house in Old Palo Alto a few blocks from Bowden Park.

Gratitude was appropriately heaped upon the parents, staff, and contractors for their support during the structural and cosmetic upgrades. Bob Davis and David England of Spectrum Fine Homes listed in the thanks. I know these guys and with their dedication to green construction, you can be sure that NITC has become greener.

Also thanked for their “quality and tireless hard work” were RJ Leonard Painting of San Jose, Economy Hardwood Floors of San Jose, Western Exterminator, Art-Craft Carpet and Linoleum Shop in Palo Alto and Timothy Andrew, aka “Handy Andy.”

In case you are not familiar with PACCC (Palo Alto Community Child Care), it’s one of the numerous options for preschool and after school care in Palo Alto. Not limited to Palo Alto residents, it’s a non-profit corp originally created out of Palo Alto’s desire to provide comprehensive child care covering ages two months to fifth grade.

My family gives special thanks to Cara Whaley and her staff at Barron Park Children’s Center, to Mary McCalister and Linda Jackson at Sojourner Truth Child Development Center in the Ventura neighborhood, and to Infant/Toddler & Preschool Coordinator Lisa Rock, who was always helpful and easy to talk to. Additional thanks and congratulations to Lisa Lewis who was Center Director of STCDC when we started and has been promoted again, this time to be PACCC’s Associate Director.

My parents’ first home was an Eichler in Sunnyvale and while they complained of the draftiness, I have fond memories of the sun streaming through the large windows.  These large single-pane windows, however, were not exactly energy-efficient, but then again nobody really worried about heating bills back then. 

In the era of $3.50/gallon gas, energy efficiency suddenly becomes a big issue, especially for the 2700 Palo Altans who live in an Eichler. Palo Alto Weekly recently had a great article on improving energy efficiency in Eichler homes.

I think this article may be even more valuable for Eichler homeowners outside of Palo Alto, since PG&E rates are greater than those of Palo Alto’s municipal utility. There are Eichlers up and down the Peninsula from San Francisco to Santa Jose, including 20 in tony Atherton.

Is there an Eichler tract in your city? (Say “yes” if you’re in San Francisco, Burlingame, San Mateo, Foster City, Menlo Park, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Saratoga, or San Jose. Wow!). By the way, Mike Ahern has mapped out many Eichler tracts in Santa Clara County. It inspired me to tour some of the Eichler neighborhoods I didn’t know about.

Palo Alto is definitely Eichler central, with 2,700 of the 11,000 built. We even have two neighborhoods (Green Meadow and Green Gables) in the National Register of Historic Places specifically because Joe Eichler built his modern suburban tracts here.

Do you have any interest in history or architecture? Check out PA Eichler tracts in other neighborhoods: Adobe Meadow/Meadow Park , Charleston Meadows, Community Center, Fairmeadow, Midtown, Palo Verde, South of Midtown, and Triple El.