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Spring 2009 Newsletter
The Community Environmental Council's South Coast Earth Day Festival
Sunday, April 19, 2009
10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Alameda Park, Santa Barbara
The Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival has a new home this year - Alameda Park. In addition to visiting all of the booths and listening to the music, come visit our fire-resistant and green demonstration house that will be on display at the park (see story below). And, please, come by and say hello to us at our booth - Space # 231 and 232 - where we will be sharing information about our latest green building projects, home performance audit services, and the benefits of high performance wall systems.
Click here to learn more.
Allen Associates' Building a Green & Fire Safe Demonstration House for Earth Day
Home will be given to a Tea Fire Family following Earth Day
Allen Associates, the Community Environmental Council and a number of local businesses are partnering to construct a small, energy-efficient, highly fire-resistant demonstration home that will be on display at CEC's Earth Day Festival on Sunday April 19. This home will be finished on the exterior and partially finished on the interior, to reveal its many fire protective and green building features. The house will be constructed on-site at Alameda Park during the week leading up to the Earth Day festival. At the conclusion of the festival, the house will be delivered to the property of Lisa Camarillo and her daughter, Bryana - one of the many underinsured families who lost their homes in the recent Tea Fire. Lisa is the daughter of Kay (Rivera) and Fernando Camarillo. Kay's family has owned property on Coyote Road for over 100 years.
Picking a family, from the many underinsured families in the Tea Fire area, proved to be a big challenge. One family after another fell out of consideration due to issues such as the topography of a lot preventing access for the truck and crane that will be delivering the home, not having sufficient funds to cover the family's required contribution to the cost of the project, or even some families that were too well insured to be eligible for a community-based project such as this.
Adele Goggia, from Harrison Design Associates, met just about every family in the Tea Fire area in her capacity as the volunteer architect at the Tea Fire Recovery Office at Cold Springs School. When it looked like the deadline to select a family for this project was about to pass without a good match, she suggested the Camarillo/Rivera family to Allen Associates. "The Camarillo's were one of the first families that came and asked for help at the Recovery Office. They have been involved in the Mountain Drive Community for generations. Their daughter goes to Cold Springs School. Having them be the family to receive this house helps tie these two communities together in a wonderful way."
"This is the most perfect family!" said Claire Gottsdanker, President of the Mountain Drive Community Association. "The Camarillo/Rivera Family has owned the property on Coyote Road since the early 1900's. They have been a significant part of the history of the Mountain Drive area. I am so happy that they are the ones to receive this house."
Fire resistant features include a standing seam metal roof, fiber cement siding, enclosed eaves and no roof vents. High performing spray foam insulation, efficient windows, Energy Star appliances, and an on-demand water heater for both domestic hot water and space heating are only a few of the energy efficient products that will be showcased. A solar photovoltaic system will provide a significant portion of the home's energy. Additional green materials include woven bamboo floors, recycled ceramic tiles, salvaged countertops, water efficient plumbing fixtures and a drought tolerant landscape. All of these materials, fixtures, appliances and systems used in the home will be on display and paired with educational information regarding fire safe building practices, energy efficiency, and green building features.
The home was designed by Wade Davis Design. Other donors contributing labor or products to the demonstration house are:
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AC Ramirez Flooring
All Phase Construction
Architectural Millworks
Armstrong Marble
Casa del Sol
Cooper Lighting
Crazy Larry Plumbing
D&Z Structural Engineering
DuPont Tyvek
EcoCycle
Ernesto Lomelli Drywall
Ferguson Plumbing
Gordon Fiano Framing
Hayward Lumber
Kilu Interiors
Marborg Industries
Masco Contractors
Mechanical Engineering Consultants
Pat Mills Construction |
Philips Color Kinetics
Radis Electric
Rincon Landscapes
San Marcos Growers
Santa Barbara Painting
SolForce Systems
Specialty Crane
Spectrum Lighting
Stonehouse Architectural Products
Suding Landscape Design
Synergy Design
Harrison Design Associates
T. Angeles Roofing
Teragren
Tile Co
True Nature
Tubular George
Vince Tarango/KGM Lighting
Vista Paint |
Ventura Earth Day & Green Home Tour
Allen Associates will be there - Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19
The City of Ventura, the Ventura Charter School and the Midtown Ventura Association are partnering on two events that will help Ventura residents celebrate Earth Day. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, the Ventura Charter School will be offering an Earth Day Festival - including a beach-cleanup, green workshops, vendor displays and live entertainment - at Promenade Park. Come visit Allen Associates' booth where we will be offering information on how to reduce your eco footprint by making your home healthier, more comfortable and energy efficient.
On Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Allen Associates will be showcasing one of our recently remodeled homes on the Midtown Ventura Association's Green Home & Garden Tour. This home, originally built in 1940, is now energy efficient, filled with durable, sustainable building materials, and uses less of our precious water resources. Stop in for a visit!
For over 30 years, the owners of this home lived in a larger home right across the street. Since their two children were grown and out of the house, they were looking to downsize. They loved the neighborhood and were extremely happy when they were able to arrange a house swap with the former owners of this home who were looking for more space for their growing family.
The remodeling removed interior partition walls between the original kitchen, laundry and living room to create a "great room," relocated the bathroom to the center of the residence, moved the laundry room, and transformed one of the original small bedrooms into a master bedroom. The homeowners were also very interested in adding green features to the home, particularly to make the home more comfortable and energy efficient.
Click here to learn more about these events.
Allen Associates Breaks Ground on Possibly the Greenest Condo Project in the Country
Victoria Mews Groundbreaking
Allen Associates recently broke ground on the Victoria Garden Mews, a multi-family, green residential project in downtown Santa Barbara. The project will be almost carbon neutral as a result of generating 100% of its electricity from the sun. Hydraulic car lifts will reduce the impact of automobiles both on the property and in the community. The project has also inspired a neighborhood effort to upgrade the old alley behind the site, and the main access to the project off Laguna Street, making it a model of best storm water management practices and encouraging more livable, walkable communities. When this project is complete, it will be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum rated project and we are expecting it to receive the highest number of LEED credits of any projects certified by the US Green Building Council in the country to date.
"As a long time builder and one of the future residents of this project, I have never felt more like an eco-pioneer! Building a small community on an infill site is allowing us to take a giant step closer to our goal of living a fully sustainable life," said Dennis Allen, who will call the project home once it is finished.
This nationally-recognized green residential project also offers:
100% sustainably harvested lumber (FSC certified)
concret made with a 50% fly ash mix to further reduce the global warming impacts of the project;
100% of rainwater retention on site through collection and reuse, bioswales, and infiltrators;
conservation of resources through design of modest living spaces;
a single mechanical system serving all three residences;
an emphasis on durability, and super efficient appliances & lighting;
a large garden courtyard in a dense urban setting with productive trees, flowering shrubs, and abundant birds.
Its most innovative feature will be the hydraulic lift that is able to stack cars two-high in the garage (with an 11 foot tall ceiling instead of the usual eight). The purpose is to preserve outdoor environments that would otherwise be consumed by driveways and parking garages. The paving-over of gardens has long been a troublesome, seemingly inevitable side effect of the high-urban-density scenarios to which most environmental builders currently subscribe.
For more details about the Victoria Mews Project visit:
http://www.victoriagardenmews.com/
New Green Business Program in Santa Barbara County
Allen Associates one of 1st two businesses to be certified
Allen Associates, along with the Isla Vista Fud Coop, were the first two businesses honored by the new Santa Barbara County Green Business Program at an awards breakfast February 6, at the Hotel Mar Monte. Both companies were recognized as leaders in the business community for having "gone above and beyond basic requirements to prevent pollution, reduce waste, and conserve water and energy" under the new Green Business Program's guidelines. Some of the key elements that our company has incorporated into our everyday operations include:
installing a 5 kW photovoltaic system that supplies 40% of the total energy needs of our leased office space
remodeling of our office demonstrating the green building strategies we use on our client's projects,
installing water efficient dual flush toilets in our employee restrooms
adopting a transportation policy that encourages employees to use alternative modes of transportation to get to work
purchasing recycled content office products, and,
worm composting all food scraps
If you are interested in becoming a certified green business, want to know which green businesses to support, or simply want more information about the program, visit the website at www.greenbizsbc.org.
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