HCHBA GREEN BUILDING COMMITTEE

High Country Home Builders Host Expo on Going Green June 27
Story by Owen Gray
High Country Press
June 11, 2009 Issue

Good news for all you homeowners out there who are interested in going green but don’t know how. The High Country Home Builder’s Association (HCHBA) Green Building Committee is inviting you to their Why Green? Resource Expo on Saturday, June 27, at the Builder’s Plaza on Highway 105 Bypass. 

Running from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. the Expo will feature presentations from 12 business professionals speaking on green topics in their field. Admission is free.

“We realized that the homeowner knew very little about how to easily discover and discern green and, in an effort to educate the public about what to look for when thinking about green, we organized the Why Green? Expo,” said Judy Wagner, HCHBA member and sponsor of the Expo.

Wagner added that there is an inordinate amount of ‘green washing’ nowadays, a scam that involves a company claiming a product to be Energy Star certified and thus a green product when, in fact, it is not. The Why Green? Expo hopes to expose people to businesses and contractors who are indeed Certified Green professionals. This will help limit the chance of people being fooled by green washing.

“All of our presenters truly believe in what they are doing. They love helping the environment and consumers,” said Wagner.

Each presenter will be given four minutes to introduce himself or herself and explain what they can do to help homeowners. The presenters and their topics for this year are: Judy Wagner and Brian Rogers of NAR Green Designee Realtors: What a Green Designation can do for you/Avoiding green washing; Sam Zimmerman of Sunny Day Homes, Inc.: Green Retrofit Remodeling; Travis Thompson of T-Square Solar Solutions Solar Water Heating, Building Performance Engineering: HERS Certification and Blower Door Testing; Quint David of ASU Energy Center: Alternative Energies; Jeremy Bollman of Mountain Lumber: Green Vendors; Adrian Tait of Green Studios: Green Home Design; Scott Eggers of Blue Ridge Energies: CFL’s and Water Heater Jacket Kits; Drew Petery of Mountaineer Sheet Metal: Green Heat and Air Geo-Thermal; Robert N. Oelberg of ASLA PA: Green building guidelines for site development and landscaping; Distinctive Kitchen and Design: Green Products for Kitchen and Bath.

Following the presentations will be a question and answer session in which attendees can go more in depth with individual presenters that they wish to know more from.

One of the biggest issues that Wagner hopes to clear up is the question of expense.

“Most people who are skeptical about going green are worried that it might cost them up to 20 percent more than usual. That’s simply not true. At most, the cost increase would be 5 percent and most people would get their money back over time in savings,” said Wagner. 

Refreshments will be served at the Expo starting at 9:00 a.m. The presentations are expected to start precisely at 9:00 a.m., said Wagner. 

“We’re going to be on it,” she said.

The Builders Plaza is located at 755 Highway 105 Bypass in Boone, beside the Coca-Cola bottling plant.

The HCHBA Green Building Committee is a branch of the High Country Home Builder’s Association. Their mission is to promote Green Building through education, training and special events.

For more information about the Why Green? Expo or the HCHBA Green Building Committee, call Susan Miller at 828-297-6566 or click to www.hchbagreen.com.


Want To Go?
Date: Saturday, June 27
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: The Builders Plaza, Boone
Cost: Free