Should DC Follow LA in Teaching Residents How to Green Their Homes?

• May 7, 2012
• 2 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

Grid tied photovoltaic system on the roof of 1824 R Street NW

While LEED certification is quickly becoming standard for new buildings in DC, residents in the city's older housing stock often don't know how to start making their homes more efficient. A recent event in Beverly Hills of all places may have provided a few tips for us.

Last weekend, TreePeople held their second annual Green City Fair in Los Angeles. Through demonstrations and workshops, TreePeople, with the backing of some corporate sponsors such as Boeing, Whole Foods and Yelp, taught willing citizens how to green their lives.

The 16 workshops were varied. Attendees learned how to create a rain garden, make their apartment more sustainable (even as a renter) and embark on easy projects that lower energy usage and conserve water. Experts were on hand to demonstrate how to graft fruit trees, harvest rainwater and maintain the patch of grass between the curb and the sidewalk.

Maybe this type of eco-friendliness is more typical in California, but DC residents seem ready to dive into a greener lifestyle. With efforts like the RiverSmart homes garden subsidy program and rebates for solar panel installation, residents are being encouraged to create more sustainable homes. Would an event like Green City Fair work in DC?

Have you been made your home in greener in some way (adding solar panels, rain gardens and low-E windows) in recent years? If so, we'd love to hear from you for an upcoming article. Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/la_residents_learn_how_to_green_their_homes/5503

2 Comments

1. Mary said at 2:41 pm on Tuesday May 8, 2012:
   One of the big benefits of something like that would be, I think, just to let people compare notes. House hunting, these days, one sees a bunch of neat green renovations but if one weren't perseveratively following listings and going to open houses, you'd never otherwise hear about them.

1. Kim said at 4:00 am on Wednesday May 9, 2012:
   People should know that for houses of less than 4000 square feet, DC will pay a private firm to do an energy audit for no cost to the homeowner. The test includes a "blower test" where air is exhausted from one door to see where it infilters, indicating the places air gets in the rest of the time. Here's a web link: http://ddoe.dc.gov/energyaudit