Downsizing according to Barbara Corcoran, Real Estate commentator for the Today Show, is the latest trend in home ownership. For a family of four (4), 2000 sq ft has become the new standard - a reduction of nearly 300 sq ft from just a year ago.

It has taken a while for this idea to catch on. Sarah Susanka, author and architect, has written about the virtues of the smaller home for nearly 10 years. Her book “The Not So Big House” is filled with highly personalized interior spaces, often decorative and multipurpose as well.  These homes, which reject the idea that “Bigger is Better”, tend to be more vibrant and tasteful than their typical MacMansion counter parts. With smaller mortgages, taxes and utility bills, these homeowners can devote more time and resources to family relationships and perhaps spend fewer hours on the job. Although other concerns such as the recession and climate change may be influencing this trend, for many it is the quality of life that matters most.

Below are some major factors affecting the movment toward the “Not So Big House”.

1. Open Floor Plan: The Kitchen, Dining and Living area should all be open to one another. The idea of connectivity among people is an important aspect of community.
2. More Windows: A room with a view and connection to the outside world is essential for a pleasantinterior environment.
3. Higher Ceilings: Nine (9) feet is becoming the norm. The extra headroom reduces the feeling of being enclosed.
4. More Exterior Space: Patios, Terraces and Covered Porches create a greater sense of spaciousness.
5. Flexible Rooms: Every room should have three (3) purposes. The Great Room is a good example of a multipurpose area -  a space for family,  for gathering of friends or entertainment.
6. Stuff – What to Do with It: Provide clever storage in every nook, cranny and closet. For the other 50% that won’t fit, get rid of it.

For the entire MSNBC Segment, Downsizing Your Home, on the “Today Show”,
Click Here

On Thursday July 31st, I had the opportunity to be on the air with Frank Knapp and his show “UNeed2Know”. The subject was Green Building and the “Importance of the Building Envelope”. AS it turned out, this was a subject that could hardly be addressed in 10 minutes. Still, it was an opportunity to reach a number of people who now have some small idea what Green Building can do for them. For all the good things about Green Building, the Building Envelope and its impact on both Energy Conservation and the reduction of Green House Gas Emissions is its heart and soul. If you get this right, the rest of the building falls into place. The reason – you can add most of the other features after the fact, but it is very hard to undo the structure to correct for deficiencies. So how does this fit into the scheme of Green Building? Let’s start with the National Association of Home Builders criteria that define Green Building. It involves 7 basic principles:

a)  Energy Efficiency: This almost speaks for itself.  In typical cases, the cost for heating and cooling can be reduced by 50% from typically built homes of only a few years ago.

b)  Water Efficiency: There are multiple opportunities.  These include more water efficient toilets, shower heads, faucets, hot water delivery systems, grey water systems, rain water systems, control of surface water run off, and so on.  The reduction in water usage can be substantial depending on options chosen, and is of particular importance in areas with dwindling water resources.

c)  Indoor Air Quality:  The purpose of this requirement is to minimize potential sources of pollutants in the home, manage potential pollutants, and mitigate potential moisture problems.  For people prone to respiratory illness, this can be very significant.

d)  Resource Efficiency:  In a single phrase, this means no wasted materials and “nothing to the dump”.  It also encompasses renewable materials, recycling, and structural durability.  All told, good practices here will reduce overall construction cost and durability will minimize subsequent home owner maintenance.

e)  Lot Design, Preparation and Development:  This involves careful planning and development of the building site for minimal disturbance to soil and vegetation, and upon completion of construction minimal restoration.  It also involves the use of local plant materials (or environmentally compatible materials) to minimize the use of natural resources for their sustainability.

f)  Operation, Maintenance, and Home Owner Education: This is a manual that explains the proper operation and maintenance procedures so the home owner can operate his home in the same environmentally responsible manner that it was built.

g)  Global Impact: These are the features that do not fit neatly into the other six. A good example is the use of low Volatile Organic Compounds (or VOC’s). Use of these paints on the inside of a home greatly reduces the presence of VOC’s. It also has an impact on the global environment – fewer VOC’s coming from a home means fewer VOC’s entering the atmosphere.

If you have the opportunity to select a lot that has the appropriate exposures, and you can place the home so it is minimally intrusive to its local environment. However, this may not always be possible, especially if you are building in a subdivision where lot location may not have been planned  with this in mind.

So now you are at the Building Envelope, the skeleton of your home and all the components that determine its interior environment. These will be some of the most important decisions that will impact “forever” on the operation costs of your home. These will involve:

a) The crawl space (or slab or basement) and methods to minimize moisture intrusion and heat loss. The recommendations today are to fully insulate this area and include it as part of the conditioned environment of the home.

b) The framing to provide for the most efficient method of insulation and moisture control. Exterior moisture wraps and careful placement of insulation are extremely important.

c) The roof design and method of preventing unnecessary heat build-up or cold intrusion. The recommended insulation location is immediately below the roof sheathing and includes appropriate air flow channels and radiant barriers.

d) Window size, location, style and glass selection are important to minimize summer solar gain, winter heating losses, and air infiltration.

e) HVAC ductwork and choice of heating and cooling systems are next. It is very important that the duct work be designed with proper size, air flow and  balanced delivery to function efficiently. Also, ALL DUCT WORK should be inside the conditioned space of the home and sealed with appropriate mastics.

These “5 Keys” are where the serious money is. Done correctly and heating bills can be reduced by 50% or more. This portion of structure also determines the relative “inside humidity” and comfort. It also provides the opportunity to control and maintain indoor air quality.

As you can see, when home building done in this manner, it is truly a science. All the various features and components interrelate with one another, and the entire building becomes an interrelated system.

This is one of the most direct and succinct articles on Climate Change anywhere. It is written by Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. He has a lot of years looking at these types of issues, and calls them for what they are. If I were to start anywhere, and read a quick synopsis of what is wrong with the world today and what needs to be done, I would start here. – LN.

PRESS RELEASE

Ten things we can do. Got a better ring to it, no? 

When Is It Real Money???

   To paraphrase the late Everett Dirkson, “A Billion here, a Billion there and pretty soon it adds up to real money.” So how about $750 Billion? Is that real money? You would think so. After all that is the amount we pay out every year for oil to foreign countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.

   Maybe, because we send it out of the country, we lose track of it – like we never had it to begin with. But just suppose we could keep it here in the USA. What could we do with it in just one year?

     a)    Install 40,000,000 roof top Photovoltaic Collectors at 3KW each. With net metering and proper insulation, each of these homes would be nearly energy independent.

b)    Retrofit 75 million residential homes (avg. cost of $10,000 each) to reduce their energy usage by at least 25%.

c)    Invest in wind farms for electrical energy on the scale of T. Boone Pickens. Using his investment figures as a guide, $750 Billion would:

1)    Install 200,000 Wind Turbines at 1.5 Megawatts each, and built in the USA.

2)    Produce 300,000 Megawatts of electricity

3)    Provide to power 90,000,000 homes

   When seen in this light, it seems like pretty real money producing some real benefits. And none of these suggestions is impossible. The technology is already in place, and it’s not rocket science. Granted, it might take 10 years to implement and we might only be able to devote $375 Billion (half the amount), but think of the benefits:

a)    Each individual component can be put in place quickly.

b)    It is clean, renewable energy, and it continues to “give” year after year

c)    It’s good for our economy, producing millions of good paying jobs that stay here in America

d)    It also benefits the environment by reducing Green House Gas Emissions.

   The only thing missing is the political will to move forward. Congress needs prodding, and lots of it. After all, there is real money on the table.

    Today, with gasoline prices still hovering around $4.oo/gallon, the talk is “drill, drill, drill” – anywhere for oil. Never mind that delivery might be 10 years in the future, or the amount might be relatively small compared to demand, or it might be a lot more expensive. At least something is being done, a perhaps psychologically soothing thought.  But the real low lying fruit is not in the ground. It is immediately at hand. It is simply providing a better insulation envelope around the buildings already constructed (both commercial and residential), and for those still in the planning stages.  A 35% to 50% reduction in heating and cooling cost could be realized. And best of all, the opportunity is huge. Using the LEEDs Green Building Guidelines as a baseline, only 2% of all commercial buildings and 0.3% of residential homes currently meet these standards. Not only is energy savings (and related green house gas reduction) a gift that never stops giving, it is also renewable. Each year further reductions are possible as even more new technologies come to market.

    So where’s the Beef??? It’s not in the drilling, that’s for sure. The word “drilling” may offer some sizzle, but drilling only replaces today’s high priced energy with more of the same. The “Beef” is in energy conservation. It is good for the pocketbook and the environment. As individuals, utilities and governments grapple for answers, one of the best and simplest answers is immediately at hand. And no new technologies are needed. Just do it. Our public officials need to realize that is where the Beef is.

As firecrackers go off with a staccato burst of sound, and aerial fireworks explode with a cascading shower of color, it is not hard to imagine the early celebrations which marked the successful conclusion to our War of Independence. These celebrations also marked the end of a King’s devastating colonial rule and his ruinous taxation policies. In its place, a promising future was at hand. Everywhere were great expanses of land, timber and minerals, just waiting to be claimed.

Today, some 200 years later, we find ourselves in the midst of another conflict. The issues are multiple. Overseas our military is engaged in a war against ideals contrary to our own. At home we are faced with economic uncertainty brought on by an adverse combination of financial and market forces. And our future is challenged by diminishing sources of affordable energy. Again the conflict has multiple fronts – oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear (representing fossil and traditional fuels) and wind, solar, biomass, tidal and geothermal (representing renewable sources).  The wild card is Climate Change and its impact on everything around us. What should we do???

In a changing world, each of these conflicts is another challenge to our independence. Our military can only assure our independence when the nations we are supporting can establish a respectful independence of their own. Our “Free Markets” (financial and economic) must respect the values of the society they serve, and function independently of irresponsible monetary gain. And our future energy sources must have a benign impact on our environment, and remain independent of vested interests with their significant financial influence. Again we are at a turning point. A promising future may very well be at hand. The choices we make today are the very cornerstone of that future.

In the weeks and months ahead we will explore the claims, issues, promises and problems with all our energy options. Regardless of the source, the real question is: “How well do these energy sources play out against Climate Change?”

In the midst of all this is the significance of Green Building – why do it, what can it accomplish, where is it headed??? For that matter, how will these scenarios play out against our traditional Real Estate market??? Will this market need to adapt to a changing field as well. Stay tuned. It is an evolving and exciting story.