Green Housing & Living
Make Your Santa Barbara Home More Eco-Friendly and Green…Here are Some Tips!!!
Categories: Green Housing & Living
Use some or all of these tips to help begin to save some of the 100 million trees chopped down annually to produce junk 
mail in the United States:
- If you do business with a company via mail services, it will often put you on its contact list. So the first time you make a transaction (such as placing an order) with that company, ask to be put on its “in-house suppress” or “do not promote” lists. Tell the company not to “rent” or share your name with other companies.
- To stop junk mail from credit card, mortgage, and insurance companies, try going to OptOutPreScreen.com which allows you to remove your name from lists generated by the four major credit bureaus– Equifax, Innovis, TransUnion, and Experian.
- Get the Stop the Junk Mail Kit from the Consumer Research Institute. This kit comes with pre-addressed postcards for you to send to companies that send you those annoying catalogs, wasteful postcards, and unnecessary brochures.
- Several subscription services will reduce your junk mail for you. You can pay a fee to join Stop the Junk Mail which offers an online service to reduce junk mail. Also, check out GreenDimes - for a dime a day, this service will reduce your junk mail and plant a tree in your name every month.
- If you’re fed up with other types of junk (faxes, email, phone calls, etc.), take a look at JunkBusters.com.
Further Reading:
- Green Housing in Santa Barbara, What You Can Do
- How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?
- 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail
- Santa Barbara Homes For Sale with a Good WalkScore
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Green Housing in Santa Barbara CA - What Can You Do?
Categories: Green Housing & Living
As Green Building, Green Initiatives, Green Movement etc. has infiltrated its presence in the minds of people here in the Santa Barbara area and the mainstream in general, some people wonder if “Green” is here to stay. For most, this is a resounding YES!! If you are not convinced, I suggest that you go talk with our younger generation and listen to them.
From everything I see, hear and read, this “green movement” is simply a major shift in ideology which has been spurred on by constant news and conversations about the environment, energy costs, population and greenhouse gases to name a few.
As a Real Estate Agent here in Santa Barbara CA., I started going over the best practices that I can personally do in playing a role for the environment and green housing. Besides looking at myself, providing quality information to others and giving people resources is the best way to go. With that said, I have listed below some of the easier and most obvious changes you can make when it comes to your home.
Tips for Green Living:
Make your own positive impact on the environment with these home improvements…double-paned windows, gravel filtration water runoff, on-demand water heaters, Energy Star appliances, CFL bulbs, water efficient and native landscaping, recycled construction materials, low VOC organic paints, water saving faucets and toilets, good insulation, solar panels, plant trees for shade, say goodbye to junk mail, adios to plastic water bottles, give your car a break, go for organic cotton and reduce-recycle-reuse.
Besides the most obvious talk of energy savings associated with the homes themselves, livability is also reintegrating itself as a major factor in going green. When buying your new home you might want to take a closer look at features such as the home being located close to transit, bike facilities and paths nearby, having a walkable dense urban neighborhood etc.
So, what are the negatives to Green Building?
Cost - If you are comparing immediate costs of a green remodel to the Home Depot remodel, then yes it is more expensive. But, if you are comparing to the higher end marble and granite counter-tops and imported maple floors, then more often than not it is cheaper. Also, for the list of items mentioned above that do not constitute any major remodel, these improvements should ultimately save you money.
Greenwashing - One of the negatives of the green movement is greenwashing. This is essentially selling something or some concept as green when it is not. One example could be the hype regarding bamboo floors. Yes, they are sustainable, but make sure they are not being cut down in virgin forests and imported from China. If so, then most likely local FSC-certified wood is a better/greener choice.
If you are looking to finance a major green remodel, you might want to look at these resources: Modern Earth Finance, Mortgagegreen Inc., New Resource Bank
Resources for General Green Information: Build It Green, US Green Building Council, Green Globes, Low Impact Living
Further Reading: Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study, Green Living, Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?, Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly, How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Santa Barbara Real Estate, Montecito Real Estate and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Heal The Ocean Here in Santa Barbara CA.
Categories: Green Housing & Living, Lifestyle / Things to Do, The Oceanfront Areas
Looking for a great organization to get behind here locally in Santa Barbara. Heal The Ocean should be at the top of your list for too many obvious reasons to list.
What Does Heal The Ocean Do? (as taken from their website) Their philosophy is simple…The ocean can no longer be used as a dump. Heal the Ocean is doing all it can to attack all sources of ocean pollution. Their basic premise consists of lobbying the government for action on ocean-pollution issues, studying the problems themselves and recommending practical solutions.
They undertake scientific studies to identify sources of pollution - from leaking sewer pipes, offshore sewage disposal, leaking coastal landfills or septic systems. They test for viruses in the ocean, creeks and groundwater to determine if human sources of pollution are present, and what are the likely sources. In cooperation with Santa Barbara County, Heal the Ocean pioneered both the use of environmental DNA testing and virus testing in the local area.
They have been successful in commissioning numerous engineering studies and environmental assessments to determine the cost and feasibility of replacing septic systems, upgrading sewage treatment plants and installing storm-water treatment technology.
They have found that once the problem is known and cleanup costs are understood, the public is eager to move forward with cleanup, and more willing to pay the price.
Last night, I was privileged to be amongst a wonderful group of roughly 300+ people celebrating Heal The Ocean’s 10 Year Anniversary at a private Montecito Estate. Fun amongst friends for a GREAT cause was the feeling throughout the night. Special guests included an opening 40 minutes of music by our adopted part-time resident Jack Johnson and friend Zach Gill. Following this was a welcoming speech by Julia Louis Dreyfus filled with the usual comedy. Then Hillary Hauser herself, raffle drawings, awards, a film by a local 17 year old, an auction, continuous food, drink, conversation and music.
Each year this annual Fund Raising Event is held in August and does a wonderful job in bringing the local community together to support OUR OCEAN.
Further Reading: Support Turning the Tide on Ocean Pollution Here in Santa Barbara CA., Summer Art, Culture, Festivals in Santa Barbara CA., Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival Kicks Off, The Secret of The Santa Barbara Channel Islands, Amgen Tour of California Comes to Santa Barbara Again, Your Santa Barbara Weekend Home Getaway, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Santa Barbara Homes For Sale with a Good Walk Score!!
Categories: Buyer's Resources & Advice, Green Housing & Living
$100…$120…$140…$160…Who knows where we will be with the price of oil here in the coming future. One this is for certain, this first 7 months of 2008 has really gotten the attention of everyone when it comes to the increased cost of commodities, oil, gas and overall living. Changes in lifestyle are happening quickly…and transportation is at or near the top of everyone’s list.
Just in these first 7 months of 2008, the highways have seemed a little more empty, hybrids are more prevalent, bike sales are up and people are starting to reassess where they are living. This leads me to a great site that I came across that I wanted to share called Walk Score. Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live and calculates the walk-ability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. In essence, Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle as opposed to just a car-free lifestyle which most everyone would find very difficult in our culture. Explore your areas and neighborhood here in the Santa Barbara and Montecito CA areas to see about your walking options.
I have personally noticed a change in attitude of some buyers in the last several months with many looking at homes for sale in Santa Barbara that are closer to downtown or closer to their place of work and have the ability to walk to and from. I am sure we are not done with this trend and new home owners will start emphasizing a “walk-score” as higher on their lists of priorities when searching for a Santa Barbara home.
- Green Living
- Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?
- Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies
- Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly
- How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?
- 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail
- Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Santa Barbara leads the way in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study
Categories: Green Housing & Living
I just viewed an interesting video posted on YouTube about Santa Barbara and the initiatives our city is taking towards energy use and climate change. Santa Barbara Council-member, Das Williams, speaks about what Santa Barbara can do as a city with regards to energy and climate initiatives.
He mentions that Santa Barbara and San Francisco are the only 2 current cities in the State of California that are completing hard science surveys on the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. The main topics that the study covers are looking at transportation, building requirements and use of energy within our city buildings.
Some of the potential changes outlined are:
1) Adding Solar Panels to City Buildings
2) Bio-diesel and Hybrid Vehicles
3) Free Bus Passes to Downtown City Workers
Further Reading: Green Living, Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?, Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly, How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?, 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Is Downtown Santa Barbara Vertically Challenged?
Categories: Downtown Neighborhood, Green Housing & Living
Over roughly the last 7 years, Santa Barbara has shown an obvious effort to try and grow ”smartly and inwardly” as a solution to maintaining open spaces and halting sprawl, while adhering to the demands of housing pressure. Many of these newer buildings are popping up with in walking distance to the hub of Santa Barbara, State Street. But with this newer style of mixed-use growth, there are open debates as to whether this style of development is in the best interest of Santa Barbara.
I just read a great article in the Independent written by Martha Sadler, specifically talking about the issues Santa Barbara faces as a city in trying to “grow smart”. One of the major current issues dividing parties is the height of some of these newer buildings.
- Information About The Downtown Neighborhood
- Articles About The Downtown Neighborhood
- The New Expansion of Luxury Townhomes and Condos in Santa Barbara CA.
- Santa Barbara Rated Amongst The Best Mid-sized Downtowns in California
- Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
Subscribe to Receive Personal Listings of Santa Barbara Area Properties
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Here is a Method That is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly
Categories: Green Housing & Living, Santa Barbara
Looking for a more environmentally friendly way to move to your new home…why not take a look at a newer company here in Santa Barbara called We Move Green. Opening its doors at the end of 2007, We Move Green is an eco-friendly moving company based here in the Santa Barbara area. I spoke with C0-Owner, Erik Haney this week and so far business is going extremely well with plans to purchase their second moving truck here in the very near future.
The difference of an Eco-friendly moving company:
1) Newer trucks adhere to 2008 low emission standards
2) Trucks run on bio-diesel
3) Recycled and sustainable moving materials
4) Purchase carbon offsets
5) Plant 10 trees for every move made
For further information, contact We Move Green at 805-845-6600
Further Reading: Green Living, Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?, Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies, How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?, 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?
Categories: Green Housing & Living, Santa Barbara Architecture
As the Santa Barbara real estate market has slowed in the last 18 months, it makes sense that some Realtors are trying to stand out with niche marketing efforts. One of these niches seems to be Realtors marketing themselves as eco-friendly and green. While I am 100% supportive for anyone with an eye on environmentally conscious action (real estate or otherwise), make sure your Realtor is not using ”basic green talk” as cursory knowledge of green building simply as a marketing ploy in a tougher market.
Again, I loudly applaud any Realtor that is going out of their way to learn about solar, energy-efficient appliances, geo-thermal pumps, earth friendly design and products, improving indoor air quality, tax credits for energy saving improvements from a homeowner etc. I think intuitively that people who share strong values of being environmentally and socially responsible will often align themselves with others that share the same beliefs. If these beliefs are then shared amongst parties involved in a real estate transaction, all the better.
For myself as a Realtor, I try to promote all that I can about green building and am always trying to learn more and understand what truly constitutes green with respect to real estate. Our industry needs to follow suit with a lot of other industries that are now making strides with sustaining our environment. Example: If a client buys a home that has older wood floors that can be easily sanded and refinished, doing this is in my eyes is potentially more green than buying new Bamboo flooring. At first thought, many people respond that Bamboo is a rapidly renewable material and therefore promotes green development. Yes, but if this is shipped all the way across the world from China, the “greener decision” would probably be to just sand the old wood floors.
As a start for everyone, some of the most basic green actions you can take as a homeowner are using non-toxic paint, trying to used locally sourced materials if you are remodeling (hopefully recycled), adding insulation, installing quality good windows, and using energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.
Further Reading: Green Living, Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?, Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies, Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly, 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
Subscribe to Receive Personal Listings of Santa Barbara Area Properties
Search the Santa Barbara Area MLS
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5 Easy Tips to Free up your Time and Help Vanish your Junk Mail (Regular Mail).
Categories: Green Housing & Living
Everyone relates to the almost daily task of leafing through your regular “Mail” and finding numerous items that are of no true interest to you. I myself am inundated constantly with the latest and greatest credit card offer…none of which I truly need. Minimize this unending stack of unwanted mail by following these easy steps below….and hopefully save a few trees while you are at it.
1) End all your unwanted credit card offers by going to www.optoutprescreen.com or call 888-567-8688. This will help in removing you and a spouse from all major credit bureaus’ mailing lists. You will have the option to be off this list for 5 years or a lifetime.
2) The Direct Marketing Association can help remove everyone in your household from mailing lists for 3 years for only $1 per person. They say that your unsolicited mail will drop by 80%. Register here at www.dmachoice.org/mps
3) If coupons are not your thing, register at www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm. The DMA says this will remove you from Valpak coupons etc.
4) If you want to take even more steps and try to have someone help you personally, www.41pounds.org will contact numerous direct marketing companies and catalog companies for you. The $41 dollars is good for 5 years and one-third or more of their profits go towards environmental agencies. By the way, the number 41 represents the estimated average amount of junk mail sent to each adult in the U.S. every year.
5) Recently launched by the Ecology Center (an environmental group in California), www.catalogchoice.org will let you sift through a huge list of catalogs by name so that you can then recognize and cancel any unwanted catalogs that keep popping up in your mailbox.
Further Reading: Green Living, Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?, Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies, Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly, How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?, Santa Barbara Races Ahead on Energy Efficient Real Estate Construction Guidelines
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
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Healthier Food Coming to Santa Barbara Area Schools
Categories: Green Housing & Living, School News & Information
School districts in Santa Barbara are changing school menus in an extended effort to provide healthier food to our children. They are also trying to combat a well recognized obesity epidemic among young people in our country. The Director of Nutrition Services says, “the old menu was made up of foods that were high in salt, fats and sugars.” To apply some of these changes, the districts are also reaching out to local growers and markets to provide a supply of fresh produce.
View Schools in the Entire Santa Barbara Area
View Local Video Broadcast on Healthier Food in Santa Barbara Schools
- Santa Barbara School Information - Research Santa Barbara Area Schools
- Green Living
- Are $5 Gas Prices Effecting Santa Barbara CA Realtors and/or Their Clients?
- Santa Barbara Leads the Way in Greenhouse Gas Emission Studies
- Here is a Method that is Helping Make Santa Barbara More Eco-Friendly
- How Green is Your Santa Barbara Home…and Realtor?
- Home Schooling Options for Santa Barbara Families
- 5 Easy Tips to Free Up Your Time and Vanish Your Junk Mail
- Treat Your Kitchen’s Home to Food from the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market
For information on Real Estate here in Santa Barbara, Montecito and/or our surrounding areas, as well as any other aspects of life in our area, please don’t hesitate to contact Kevin Schmidtchen at Sotheby’s Int’l Realty.
Thank you for reading. I hope you find Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice informative. Please feel free to contact me or comment below with any thoughts.
Subscribe to Receive Personal Listings of Santa Barbara Area Properties
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