Local Organizations Help Berkeley Homes Go Green

To meet the city's goal of lowering carbon emissions, several local organizations are making it easier for residents to make their homes more energy-efficient.

Build it Green, Rising Sun Energy Center and the Berkeley Association of Realtors are among several local groups with a common mission-reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving energy by focusing on individual homes.

Residential emissions contributed 26 percent of Berkeley's total carbon dioxide emissions in 2005, according to the city's Climate Action Plan.

These local groups seek to help the city meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 by focusing on making residences more energy-efficient.

One such group, Berkeley-based Build it Green, is involved in the early stages of building.

When applying for a building permit from the city, homeowners must consult with the group, a free service. The group tries to get residents to consider more energy-efficient building options and discusses the many facets of green building, from better insulation to solar panels to landscaping.

Many homeowners are concerned that energy-saving products may be prohibitively expensive, but the products will pay for themselves over time, said Angelita Menchaca, spokesperson for Build it Green.

"There have actually been a lot of studies done all over the country where they say that green building, if it is more expensive, it's only slightly more expensive and a lot of these things, they have a return on investment that will come back to you," she said.

The Berkeley Association of Realtors also has plans to form a coalition with local businesses and the city called "Green is for everyone in Berkeley" in the hope of changing the city's energy standards, said Liz Stevens, chair of the local government committee for the association.

Currently, houses are required to meet certain standards for energy efficiency only when they are sold, but the coalition hopes to inspire homeowners to make their homes greener before sale by installing free compact fluorescent light bulbs and offering discounts on improved insulation and windows, among other things.

"We're putting together a program where realtors can use their preexisting relationships to get anybody who wants a house or a condo to be greener," Stevens said. "We have a tremendous resource of contractors who are willing to come together for less than their top price."

Rising Sun Energy Center is also trying to make energy-efficient products more affordable with its California Youth Energy Services Program, which sends local teens into homes to educate owners about saving energy. The teens provide free energy-saving light bulbs and clotheslines. They also inspect attics to see if better insulation could save energy.

"We hire the youth locally and they go out and serve their own communities and become leaders in their neighborhoods," said Jailan Adly, the program's director. "We grew from a small grassroots program in Berkeley with 300 homes our first year to 3,000 homes in the whole Bay Area over the last two years."

Berkeley is an ideal location for this sort of grassroots action because of the citizens' strong commitment to the environment, said Brian Parker, government relations manager for Build it Green.

"I think Berkeley has always been a place where environmental issues are important," he said. "Berkeley's always ahead of the curve."

Tags: ENVIRONMENT, GREEN, RESIDENCES