Green products and services have proliferated in Central Oregon, while the process for LEED certification has become more complicated and multifaceted.
The Bend Green Team is a group of four subcontractors that have joined forces to bring clarity and definition to green building practices in the area. Through their partnership and weekly meetings, they have all become experts in LEED certification standards and have created a "collective peer-pressure" to become as environmentally-friendly as possible within their own companies.
They are well-versed in the services their team members offer, and regularly give presentations to builders that explain the project-planning benefits of working with the team.
These subcontractors also provide another valuable service to their customers. If they cannot provide a product or service within their partnership, they will orchestrate referrals to other green building companies in the region.
"We really have to give kudos to the Central Oregon Builders Association and the Green Council for bringing us together and giving us the opportunity to network with other like-minded subcontractors," said Jim Kone of Home Storage Solutions, one of the four members of the Bend Green Team. "Our long-term goal is to have other members join our team and to make official referrals."
But the Bend Green Team is choosing to build its partnerships slowly in an effort to avoid "greenwashing," the term for marketing products as environmentally friendly that have little authentic basis for such claims.
"We could have 50 people in this group by now, but we are holding back for clarity," said Kone. "We want authenticity and definition at the subcontractor level."
Builders and homeowners that wish to incorporate energy-saving elements into their home designs may become overwhelmed with choices. The dark side of the trend is that certain products that claim to be sustainable may do nothing to save the planet in the long run.
Kone's company, Home Storage Solutions, offers products like freedomRail and Classica wood shelving, which uses melamine made from 100 percent recycled material from sustainable forests.
One of Kone's partners, Marcus Hamaker of H & M Concrete Co., installs radiant floor heating under cement made from slag, an industrial by-product of iron that would otherwise be put into a landfill. H & M Concrete also installs Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), one of the newest sustainable home building materials.
Hamaker met Richard Brinkman, of W. L. May Company, Inc., another partner, because they were neighbors in the same commercial building.
Brinkman, who sells appliances and cabinets to builders, came up with the Bend Green Team name and idea, and then asked Hamaker to become a partner.
"Out of necessity, sometimes you get creative," Brinkman said. "Green building is certainly the future of the business, so we were looking for a way to have the maximum impact and move this aspect of the business forward in Central Oregon."
While the Green Team is embracing the cooperative marketing opportunities that their partnership offers them, they have a larger vision for the future of green building in the region.
"Global warming is the biggest issue that faces our world," Graham Hausler said, the fourth partner who installs energy-saving light and HVAC controls for his business, Atlas Smart Homes. "We as small business people can make a difference in our community, by making changes in our work and our lifestyles.
"We had to start with ourselves, and instead of this being an overwhelming global problem, we are making progress by working as a group to take action."
The group formed as Oregon continues to lead the environmental movement, decades after clean water and recycling became state priorities. The state was recently named the second greenest state in the nation (after Vermont) by Forbes Magazine in 2007 for its low carbon footprint and strong policies to promote energy efficiency and high air quality.
Oregon also tops the list of states with the most buildings per capita that have received the U.S. Green Building Council's benchmark certification, known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
Central Oregon is no different than the rest of the state. From a platinum-level LEED certification for the Scott Steele Associates Architects office building in Northwest Crossing, to The Building Green Council of Central Oregon™, builders and designers in this part of the world are doing more than keeping up with trends. They are setting environmental standards for the rest of the country.
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