[Greenbuilding] Totally turned off by high prices for green products

[David Bergman]

At 02:16 AM 12/18/2006, David Seth Melchert wrote:
>Geri:
>
>As Mary and others have pointed out, there are a lot of different
>criteria that can be applied to a product to determine a "green" label.
>In fact there is no objective standard. Mary is extremely sensitive to
>wood use. Others to energy consumption. Others to health and indoor air
>quality. Others to connection with nature. Others to reduced
>consumption. Others to durability and longevity. And myriad combinations
>thereof. You can choose...everything has some element of compromise one
>way or another. There is really no such thing as "green building" except
>as being less harmful than "normal" building. Make some improvement in
>some way and you can probably call it "green".

I divide this into 3 areas and ask my clients which one(s) they are 
interested in (and then I try to gently sway them on the others as well):
personal/family health
saving energy/water/money
saving the planet

>  (I am a builder in Oakland, just
>up and across the Bay from you folks),

Wish I'd known about you before. I'm just finishing a semi-green 
reno/addition in Menlo Park (nearer Geri) and had trouble finding 
green contractors. You're probably too far to have made it a 
reasonable proposition, but perhaps would have had other 
recommendations. The contractor we ended up with was somewhat 
knowledgeable, though not much, about eco materials and methods, but 
more importantly was at least open to the concepts.

>  (The
>only thing insane are the real estate prices down there in Silicon Valley!)

Yes, they amazed even me -- a resident of Manhattan.


>I would recommend that you contact the folks at Build It Green in
>Berkeley. http://www.builditgreen.org/
>They serve the entire state with advice and counseling for businesses.
>Also try Green Fusion in Marin Co - they sell a lot of tile and bath
>products as well.

We did some shopping at Eco Design Resources in San Carlos. Very 
helpful people, though I don't think they're in the price direction 
Geri's looking for.


David
DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
bergman at cyberg.com    www.cyberg.com
241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291