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.

It’s almost the end of class and towers of cardboard cover the tables and floor. Students have been learning the importance of a wide base to have a waist-high structure.

That may not seem like a tall order for most of us, but these students are five to seven years old. The class is Architectural Design for Kinders offered by Palo Alto’s Community Services Department as part of the summer program.

German native Anja Blum is an incredibly patient and encouraging instructor. A few parents stick around and help their child. An architectural designer herself, this is her first year teaching Kinders. Architectural Design for Kids (7-12 years old) is in its third year.

Through drawing and model making, Kinders learn concepts such as floor plan, elevation, stability, and interior design. The Kids class adds concepts such as scale, three-dimensional design, and designing furniture.

The most important goal is that they have fun working with the materials as they manipulate small boxes, construction paper, pipe cleaners, yogurt containers, toilet paper rolls, craft sticks, wire, strawberry baskets, scissors, tape, and glue.

It’s not be the Magic School Bus, but with these hands-on experiments, they certainly get to “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

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.

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.

So where are all of these Backyard Habitats?

Apparently, it’s a bit labor intensive to get the Certified Backyard Habitat stats city-by city. Thanks to Roxanne Paul of the National Wildlife Federation for sending this partial list before dashing off on her vacation.

Campbell: 12
Cupertino: 9

Los Altos: 16
Los Altos Hills: 3

Los Gatos: 14
Menlo Park: 4

Palo Alto: 17

Saratoga: 5

San Jose: 99
Santa Clara: 9

Landscaper Sherri Osaka told me today that she had one and they’re not that hard to do.

I recently talked with a neighbor in Midtown Palo Alto who’s really into animals. I asked if their backyard landscaping was completed. She showed me how the family had “gone wild” to reintroduce native tree frogs and toads to the environment with their new pond and supporting vegetation.

This family is not alone. The National Wildlife Federation has certified over 80,000 Backyard Wildlife Habitats nationwide. There are 77 certified in San Mateo County and 237 in Santa Clara County!

It seems we can create a landscape that incorporates locally appropriate planting for wildlife and human habitation. Locally-developed Sustainable Landscape Standards give wildlife habitat one point out of 49. The fascination factor is much higher. It is not as difficult as you’d expect to help support wildlife in your backyard. My neighbor incorporated a water feature in the garden for birds and other animals, including local fish. The downside may be that the local egrets eat the fish.

Another gardening for wildlife suggestion is to provide food, shelter, cover, and water for wildlife such as mammals, birds, hummingbirds, salamanders, beneficial insects, bees, and butterflies. You can pick and choose what you want to attract. No one will convince me to support my yard’s ant population.

A third, obvious choice is to eliminate pesticides whenever possible by using integrated pest management practices to preserve native insects, birds, and other small creatures.

At the end of my backyard tour, half joking, I asked my neighbor, “What’s next, bats?” Apparently, the bat houses are already ordered and should arrive by end of summer.

Does it seem like school kids know more about basic safety that you do? They’ve learned to “duck ‘n’ cover” and have fire drills. Aside from First Aid and CPR training, it’s been years since I’ve done any emergency roll playing.

We all know that The Big One’s coming. You don’t need to remind the folks in Tahoe or Oklahoma that preparing for fire or flood is important. Closer to home we’ve had fires at the Stanford Dish and on University Ave. On top of that, we now have to worry about pandemic flu and terrorist attacks.

So, at Palo Alto’s Chili Cook-Off, I helped out with the emergency preparedness booth. I’ve got an earthquake kit, spare water, and first aid bags in the house and cars, but I figured I could always learn more about being better prepared. Mountain View’s disaster preparedness group also had a booth there.

There are all sorts of new products out there. Even some of the basic — stuff that you’d find at any REI – seem to improve annually. I ordered some PowerFlare Safety Lights to replace my dangerous and toxic incendiary flares.

I was impressed with some of the survival kits. In case of emergency, grab the bag and go. You’ve got three days of supplies, which is about how long it will take for the government to get around to help us out. (We were giving out yo-yo’s at the booth: YO-YO stands for “You’re On Your Own” in a disaster.)

Ready to start? Keep it simple and just order a survival kit. Or take a broader view by looking over the checklist from SOS Survival Products and decide what you’re willing to start with. We’ve been adding to our kits since Y2K.

The Red Cross Store carries the basics. Many emergency preparedness websites have lists or categories as a way to navigate through the products. Look for first aid or survival kits, food and water, shelter and sanitation, lights and radios, and tools. Some of the sites I’ve found helpful are Quake Pro, Major Surplus & Survival, Emergency Preparedness Service, and Life Gear.

Need to safeguard your furry friends? United Animal Nations specializes in emergency supplies for animals, although I easily found kits on iPrepare.com and Quake Kare as well. Who knew there was such a thing?

Maybe you’re like me and like to handle the products first. Start with a local retailer like Redwood Trading Post in Redwood City or Somewhere Out West in Mountain View.

As Quake Pro says, “Preparedness doesn’t cost, it pays!”

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.