2012: Celebrating Successes and Giving Thanks

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 01:00:00 GMT

Latest News

New and Improved Build It Green Corporate Sponsorship Program Launches

Build It Green's Corporate Sponsorship Program has been updated with new benefits and opportunities for our corporate partners! Build It Green Sponsorship offers companies a way to align themselves with one of the most respected green building organizations in California, all while getting increased exposure with potential customers – savvy green building professionals and homeowners.

Learn more about Sponsorship and contact sponsorship@builditgreen.org with questions.

Act Now Before
Green Home Label Rebates End

Due to the success and participation rate in the Green Label Rebate Program, Los Angeles County projects that all grant funds allocated for homeowner rebates will be fully committed soon, and has set a program end date of February 1, 2013 at 11:59 p.m.

If you've been thinking about working with a contractor to make green upgrades and get a green label for your home, you must act soon to qualify for up to $2,000 in rebate funds available until February 1, 2013.

Learn more about reserving your rebate today!

San Francisco to Begin Recording Green Labels in Official Records

There are more than 1,000 properties and 250 buildings in San Francisco that have earned some sort of green label, including the GreenPoint Rated label. Maintaining green label information in official records is an important first step in the universal adoption of ecologically-sustainable building practices.

Read the full article.

A Time to Give Back: Calling Skilled Builders and Carpenters

Our friends at Rebuilding Together San Francisco are looking for skilled carpenters/builders to help install seismic retrofits in the homes of low-income seniors. The retrofit event is Feb 1-2, 2013. 10 people are needed each day to do work on a total of 5 homes. Contact Stephanie for more info.

December | 2012

2012: Celebrating Successes
and Giving Thanks

A Message from Our Executive Director

As the year comes to an end, I am struck more than anything by a sense of gratitude.

Our members are slowly returning to a more robust work environment. Our contractor community is seeing the benefits of the energy retrofit work funded by both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and various public utilities, which means more and more homes are using less energy. And California passed legislation this year that will greatly benefit our cause.

More than anything, I am grateful for our many partnerships with like-minded people and organizations that are helping us reduce greenhouse gases and carbon emissions in the residential housing sector. Our green building community recognizes the triple bottom line benefit of this important work, and we will continue to support you and your businesses even more robustly in 2013.

On behalf of all of us at Build It Green, I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, and more peace in this world in 2013.

Support the important work Build It Green is doing to reduce greenhouse gases with an end-of-year donation.

Our Successes are Yours

The Build It Green community has been at the forefront of the green building industry's success since the beginning – building better homes, demanding higher standards, and transforming how homes are designed, built and remodeled in California. Everything we do – our rating system, our training programs, our work with public utilities – serves to aid you in being a successful part of this industry. In this year-end issue of the Green Post, we highlight some of our successes, none of which would have been possible without your support.

Over 3600 rebates for energy efficiency upgrades
Our PG&E Whole House team administers the Energy Upgrade California program for PG&E territory, offering technical support and training for contractors and helping them through the submittal process for the rebates. This program is putting contractors back to work and making homes more energy efficient, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. We've got over 4600 more projects in the pipeline, so the good work continues!

Expanded services in Southern California
We grew our community in Southern California this year, thanks to our work with Energy Upgrade California in Los Angeles County and Southern California Edison's Sustainable Communities Program. Our Southern California staff hosted over 10 educational events to support and reach out to over 300 local green building professionals. These partnerships help us accomplish our mission to increase green building practices statewide, but they also strengthen the green homes market and support network for all of you!

Over 4,000 newly GreenPoint Rated homes
Our GreenPoint Rated program encourages green home features that conserve energy, water, materials, and create a healthier indoor environment. This year, another 4,200 homes were GreenPoint Rated, bringing us to nearly 15,000 statewide. The energy and water savings from these homes translates to taking 12,945 passenger cars off the road for one year, and conserving 279 Olympic-size swimming pools of water.

Trained and certified over 1,200 building professionals
Our education and training programs reached over 1,200 professionals this year, including over 400 newly certified Green Building Professionals, Green Real Estate Professionals, and GreenPoint Raters. These professionals now have new skills to add to their business offerings, making them more competitive in the industry.

More support for our community
We added value to our membership program this year with a large selection of brand new benefits. The membership program is committed to supporting the success of green building professionals and we are very excited to be able to offer an improved benefits package that helps you in your networking, promotional and educational efforts.

Dec 6, 2012 5:00 PM

Build It Green - Articles

2012: Celebrating Successes and Giving Thanks

December | 2012