87 episodios

I am Izumi Tanaka, a green home advisor and a green realtor. Here I invite a variety of experts in the world of green homes and have conversations about how we can all live in healthy, resilient and efficient homes. My guests provide insight in a wide range of topics from designing, building and living in green homes, purchasing or financing green homes, and improvements to how we can live to reduce the negative environmental impact from the way we live. My goal is to inspire and inform you about how we can make a difference in our own lives and our environment.

Home Green Homes Izumi Tanaka

    • Economía y empresa

I am Izumi Tanaka, a green home advisor and a green realtor. Here I invite a variety of experts in the world of green homes and have conversations about how we can all live in healthy, resilient and efficient homes. My guests provide insight in a wide range of topics from designing, building and living in green homes, purchasing or financing green homes, and improvements to how we can live to reduce the negative environmental impact from the way we live. My goal is to inspire and inform you about how we can make a difference in our own lives and our environment.

    3.25 How I Built My Sustainable ADU with Trent Wolbe

    3.25 How I Built My Sustainable ADU with Trent Wolbe

    "For me, mantra in my sort of day-to-day climate work is go for the gigatons. And while as a homeowner, a single homeowner, you can't do that, you can look at your biggest spend. So what are the most gigantic energy sinks in your home? Two-thirds of home energy use is from heating and hot water." - Trent Wolbe



    Trent Wolbe is currently a VP of marketing for a start-up called, Harvest, but I invited him to be my guest because of his fascinating history and passionate dedication to help this environmental crisis we face.  He recently joined me as a co-chair of the Green Home Committee at USGBC-LA and dove right into actions, which I’m so grateful for.  He shared how watching Ninja Turtle in his youth led him to be who he is today, and how he and his partner built a sustainable ADU in Los Angeles.  

    A chance sighting of unusual structures revealed Earthships to Trent, inspiring him to study their off-grid design harnessing nature for comfort through materials and thermal gain. And upon building his ADU, he optimized for minimal energy use with a tight envelope, geothermal, solar, battery and heat pumps. He shares lessons from a challenging but educational process.

    • 39 min
    3.24 How To Quit Carbon with Cooper Marcus

    3.24 How To Quit Carbon with Cooper Marcus

    "For some folks, they become really motivated by the climate crisis. They start to understand that in their family, maybe their single largest source of climate pollution, and it's a big one, is sitting in their closet just heating their water and heating their house, right? So that's some folks are motivated by that, and they want to start finding out what they can do. Other folks maybe don't care about climate at all, but they've got high utility bills, and they want to understand how electrifying their home can actually reduce their utility bills.  This is a common misperception. People think electricity is expensive, and they think it's dirty. Electricity is not dirty in California. Our electricity supply is remarkably clean. …  Also, electricity is not expensive when you do the math right when you compare apples to apples, running your home on electricity and running it on gas. You'll discover that over time, you can save, a typical home will save thousands of dollars over the lifespan of the equipment that we're talking about." - Cooper Marcus, Chief Quitter, Founder



    Cooper Marcus founded QuitCarbon, which is a platform that makes home electrification easier, cheaper, and better for all with free expert advice, personalized plans, contractor referrals and support through the process to transition homes off fossil fuels.  Chief quitter, founder of QuitCarbon shares how he started this company as he went through a complex process of electrifying his Victorian home in San Francisco.

    QuitCarbon is free for homeowners and generates revenue through contractor partnerships by connecting them with clients, with the goal of helping millions of homes electrify while educating contractors on the transition. Cooper addressed pushbacks like climate concerns, cost worries and reliability myths, noting solutions like battery backups and that electricity is often cheaper than gas long-term, especially as incentives lower upfront costs. Also QuitCarbon has developed a software that tracks almost 300 ever changing financial incentives available and be able to inform the homeowners the best possible path of electrifying homes.

    • 32 min
    Love to Shower with RainStick with Alisha McFetridge

    Love to Shower with RainStick with Alisha McFetridge

    “…what can we do in terms of water and energy? Something that's super decentralized that doesn't make people compromise. And we started to look at where water is used most within the residential home and 50% of that water use stems from the bathroom. It's quite alarming when you start looking at how much we actually use in terms of water.” - Alisha McFetridge

    A typical 10-minute shower uses 25 gallons, whereas Rainstick Shower uses under 5 gallons, saving both water and the energy required to heat excess water. Its point-of-use cleaning further reduces costs and environmental impacts. Alisha McFetridge, Co-founder and CEO, detailed Rainstick's recirculation system saves 80% water and energy by reusing shower water up to six times through cleaning and pumping, while maintaining a strong 3 gpm flow. Her background in water management and sustainability led to developing this solution.  She also explained the installation process, maintenance as well as the possible upcoming financial incentives.

    Instagram: @rainstick.shower

    FB: rainstickshower

    LinkedIn: rainstickshower

    • 32 min
    3.22 Selling Sustainable Homes with Wayne Beals

    3.22 Selling Sustainable Homes with Wayne Beals

    “I feel that we have this moral imperative from a business standpoint to preserve our markets. And so, as Realtors, we are advisors.  So we explain to our developers, we explain to our buyers, we explain to our sellers how to transact in a way that is most profitable for them.

    how the Code of Ethics really demands that we understand the products we sell and that we do a better job of representing these products.”  - Wayne Beals

    Wayne Beals is a managing broker at Beals Group of Exit Strategies and a fellow Green Realtor in Chicago. Wayne details his upbringing fixing old homes, sparking passion for buildings that led to careers in construction and real estate. Witnessing energy poverty drove focus to efficient housing. He now specializes in all-electric new construction, convinced gas infrastructure worsens problems, developing with partners seeking competitive edge in electrification. While some buyers eagerly seek green, others dismiss features until educated on health, comfort and cost benefits. Appraisals don't recognize value, hindering prices despite certification.  He believes that as advisors, realtors must explain sustainability impacts for clients' long term interests. While some resist, normalizing discussion introduces more to benefits, shifting perceptions over time for future-proofing markets.  Relying on early adopters, realtors can disrupt competitors by demanding high performance standards. Educating all parties grows receptive audiences. With moral duty to steward resources and public health, the industry must integrate sustainability for viable future operations.

    • 33 min
    3.21 Think Circular: Practical Tips to Design Sustainably with Kathryn Soter

    3.21 Think Circular: Practical Tips to Design Sustainably with Kathryn Soter

    "The new thinking is around circularity. The idea of circularity is the circulation of materials at their highest value for the longest period of time.  And when you design with circular systems in mind, you are thinking about the end at the beginning, meaning what's going to happen to this product that we're making? What's going to happen to this house that we're designing at the end of life? Can any of these things be reused again? Can they be made into something else? Can you take and use... send the furniture back to the manufacturer and they'll repair it or even keep it and resell it to somebody else.  There are companies that do that. " - Kathryn Soter



    About a year ago, I interviewed Katie Story, a founder of Good Future Design Alliance, which she created to educate the professionals in the building and designing industry to reduce the massive waste this industry generates forging a radical new path in the world of design.  The new executive director, Kathryn Soter, gives us the update on the organization’s missions as well as some practical tips when designing, redesigning and renovating homes or even when we need to replace a piece of furniture to help reduce waste. 


    Construction and demolition waste is a massive problem, with 500 million tons generated annually in the US alone. This is equivalent to 100 Great Pyramids of Giza per year.
    There are major health impacts from construction waste, including landfill pollution, emissions, and plastic waste.
    GFDA aims to connect and educate interior designers, architects, contractors, and manufacturers to adopt low-waste practices.
    Homeowners should plan carefully, salvage and reuse materials, and hire trained professionals to reduce waste.

    Resources mentioned:


    Chairish
    Renovation Angel
    Rheaply
    FirstDib

    • 45 min
    3.20 Back to Basics: Sustainable Construction Innovation with Todd Usher

    3.20 Back to Basics: Sustainable Construction Innovation with Todd Usher

    "I think that we will continue to see high performance sustainability at the forefront of innovation. I think it's going to be a slow transition depending on where you are in the world and where you are in the U.S.  So I think we're going to see different rates of adoption. I think all of it is going to become faster as we realize the impacts of climate change. And the same holds true with the other element you mentioned, which is resiliency.  So as the climate continues to warm, storms are going to be more severe. Floods are going to be more severe, droughts will be more severe, hurricanes will be more frequent. And the approach to build buildings and homes that are more resilient to disaster is going to continue to increase.  And I think those two are going to go hand-in-hand." -Todd Usher



    Todd Usher is the founder and president of Addison Homes in South Carolina.  Todd has been building high performance homes since 2003 when he discovered Earthcraft House certification.   He is passionate about sustainability and building science.  In his presentation, he explains the key elements of a sustainable home including insulated building envelope, air sealing, indoor air quality management, efficient equipment like heat pumps, and smart home technology. He also discusses how site orientation, window placement, roof overhangs, and other passive design strategies are crucial before considering any technology or building techniques.  Conversation further explores how energy efficiency strategies can align with strategies for improved health, comfort and resilience.

    • 36 min

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