Local Limelight:
Weeklyish Articles Of Interest
Build It Green! Home Tour and Info Fair
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
Tour 11a.m. to 5p.m.
FREE Info Fair 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability invites you to join us on the tenth annual Build It Green! (BIG!) Home Tour and Info Fair! The Tour showcases twenty-two green remodels and new homes around Portland. This year’s tour features the highest number of women participating, as owners, developers and do-it-yourselfers.
The self-guided tour is held each year as a fun, low-key way to see a variety of green building practices up close. A cross-section of cutting-edge, high-style and evolving, experimental low-tech projects showcasing distinct architectural styles and time periods is showcased.
These innovative and inspiring projects showcase a variety of ways homeowners are:
-
generating much of their home’s energy.
-
conserving money and water with low-flow plumbing fixtures and native landscaping.
-
maximizing local programs, incentives and tax credits.
-
learning hands-on how to build and upgrade their homes.
-
creatively using salvaged materials.
-
reducing their carbon footprints through simple, inexpensive methods.
-
minimizing construction waste.
Starting off the tour on Saturday is a fun, family-friendly FREE Information Fair hosted by Green Depot (formerly Ecohaus), 819 SE Taylor St, Portland, OR 97214 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be thirty vendors of green products and services, non-profits, hands-on activities, a retrofitted 1962 trailer, music, a free raffle and food! The Info Fair is open to all (you do not need to have a tour ticket to attend).
Tour highlights include:
-
Thirteen remodels with the oldest home dating from 1890.
-
A non-profit community center on a reclaimed brownfield (a former gas station).
-
A new home in the SW Hills inspired by the Arts and Crafts firm Greene and Greene and the Japanese Gardens.
-
New affordable home-ownership townhouses in N Portland.
-
Three detached backyard granny flats (accessory dwelling units or ADU’s).
-
A SE site showcasing permaculture, low-tech natural building techniques and chicken and cat palaces.
-
An aged duplex updated with state-of-the-art aging-in-place accessibility features.
-
A new Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home focusing on the “honesty” of materials.
-
A 1980’s home with energy and weatherization upgrades from Clean Energy Works.
-
The first WaterSense-certified home in Oregon built by the Portland Water Bureau.
Volunteer for the Tour! Sign up to volunteer for a shift and receive a FREE Tour ticket. E-mail [email protected] with your name, phone, e-mail, morning or afternoon shift preference, area of town preference (N, NE, SE or SW) and whether you’d like to be at a home or at the Info Fair.
Thank you to our sponsors! Metro, Energy Trust of Oregon, Oregon Home magazine, Solar Oregon, City of Portland Bureaus of Development Services (BDS), Environmental Services (BES) and Water. Thank you to Green Depot, the Info Fair host.
Preview homes here: www.portlandonline.com/bps/builditgreen
Questions? Regional Green Building Hotline 503-823-5431 [email protected]
We hope to see you on the Tour and at the Info Fair on Saturday, September 24th!
Get the latest:
Facebook (use icon): Build It Green! Tour and Fair
Twitter (use icon): @BIGTour
Sidebar:
$15 general admission
$10 bike/mass transit/student/honored citizen
FREE for children aged 13 and under
Online (credit card): www.portlandonline.com/bps/builditgreen
In-person (cash/check only) Green Depot | 819 SE Taylor St | Portland | 97214 | 503-222-3881
Your ticket is a full-color booklet with map, home features, photos, and local project resources.
Written for GreenPosting to reproduce.