By Brian Liloia •
April 9, 2009
My jaw dropped when I first watched this video tour of a beautiful owner-built green building construction project in Oregon. This particular green building is made entirely out of cob, a mixture of clay, sand, and straw.
Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon built this stunning cob house over a four year period. Complete with hand-sculpted furniture, shelves and nooks built directly into the walls, arched windows, and a killer custom staircase, his cob building is a divine artistic achievement.
Check out the video and photos of Meka’s cob cottage for yourself:
By Amanda Peterka •
November 26, 2008
Ocean acidification, and it’s happening at a much more alarming rate than originally thought, according to a new report.
By Dawn Killough •
November 12, 2008
A southeast Portland retail store is looking to achieve LEED Silver with its recent renovations.
By Kristin Dispenza •
September 16, 2008
Green building tours are becoming popular in many cities, and are an excellent means of introducing green construction options to professionals and laypeople alike.
The Cascadia Region Green Building Council will host a tour of green buildings on September 25th, 26th, and 28th in the Victoria, Vancouver, and Okanagan regions of British Columbia. British Columbia is the Canadian province with the most LEED-certified buildings per capita, and Cascadia’s Green Skyline tour [...]
By Dawn Killough •
August 15, 2008
The historic Heathman Hotel, in downtown Portland, Oregon, recently gave its bathrooms a new, green look. The project is a continuation of the hotel’s commitment to sustainability and the local economy.
“Workforce housing” is a term being heard more and more, used place of the more familiar “affordable housing”. It differentiates between housing that is intended to accommodate people from the lowest income brackets, and housing for the lower middle class, people who have steady employment but have been priced out of the housing market in many areas.
According to Wikipedia, workforce housing has four defining elements:
- Affordability
- Home Ownership
- Key Workforce (in other words, composed of critical members of a community’s workforce such as police officers and teachers), and
- Proximity (to employment centers)
By Dawn Killough •
June 14, 2008
Follow this homeowner as she learns about energy efficient windows, and, most importantly, finds out if they really do save money.
By Kristin Dispenza •
February 5, 2008
The Pacific Northwest has a reputation for being progressive when it comes to green building, with Washington and Oregon setting the pace. But where does Alaska fit into the picture, and how do its green building efforts measure up?
With regard to the LEED program, Washington and Oregon each have certified or registered projects numbering in the hundreds. By comparison, Alaska has only three LEED certified buildings (A National Weather Service facility, a visitor’s center at Denali Park, and the Homer City Library) and less than 20 projects currently registered.
By Kristin Dispenza •
January 15, 2008
Northwest cities do such an impressive job of leading urban America toward more planet-friendly living that it can be easy to overlook the region’s many rural landholders who are also paving the way to a greener future.
Beginning January 27, Portland, Oregon will be hosting farmers, ranchers and other agricultural professionals at Harvesting Clean Energy’s 8th annual conference. With an attendance of over 600 people at its 2007 gathering in Boise, Idaho, Harvesting Clean Energy’s event is growing every year.
