1. Tell us a little about Green Dog Enterprises and what you do.

Green Dog Enterprises is a green building consulting firm that focuses on promoting green building practices by certifying projects, educating the public, and providing a variety of training, marketing and promotional services for companies and organizations involved with green building. I founded the company in April 2006.

2. What did you do before, and how did you come to start Green Dog?

Before starting Green Dog Enterprises, I spent the previous four years as director of sales & marketing for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties in Washington state and before that for another construction association. When I saw the impact green building was having on the industry, I saw an opportunity to help construction companies integrate new green practices in a way that makes sense for them and helps them be successful.

Thanks to my marketing background, I think I have a knack for demystifying complex information so people – both businesses and consumers - can grasp the essentials.

3. Green is big and getting bigger. How do you account for that? And what does being green mean?

Green means a lot of things to a lot of people, but there are definitely some key drivers.

1. Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important to consumers as they see energy rates rising and supply stability wavering. As the evidence for global climate change mounts, people are also beginning to look at the impact of their homes on greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Healthy indoor air quality has become more and more important as information comes out about how exposure to materials such as formaldehyde, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and construction and building materials, has been linked to chemical sensitivity issues, auto-immune conditions, childhood asthma and allergies in both kids and adults.

Other drivers, such as water quality, help make for a ready-made and sympathetic audience.

4. Do you think there’s a particular way to promote green housing or green anything, or is it promotion as usual?

The term green has been somewhat overused. Originally, it often meant recycled materials, but now it means a lot of things to a lot of different people. I see a growing hunger in consumers to really understand what it means, and for credibility, data, facts - really, the science behind green. There’s been a lot of slapping on the green label, but consumers really want something to back up green claims. Smart companies are feeding that hunger for credible information.

5. You’ve been involved in a couple of exciting projects recently. The latest is an episode for a project for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. What’s the story?

The ABC show is ongoing and enormously popular. When Daimon Doyle of Doyle Custom Homes was chosen to build the home in Kirkland, Washington, he wanted to build a beautiful, functional home that was also as green as possible. What an exciting project! Everything was donated. I was brought in as the green building consultant to work with suppliers to see what green aspects could be incorporated. One of the exciting aspects was how much material – over 100 tons – was kept out of landfill by recycling and salvage efforts when the original house was deconstructed and during construction of the new house.

A lot of people who know nothing about green building have visited the website for the Extreme Makeover project (www.greenextremehomemakeover.com). It’s been an amazing educational opportunity. Getting information like this out there is key to creating market transformation.

6. Another big project for you is the Porter house, also known as Going Green at the Beach, that started last year. There’s been a record amount of enthusiasm for it, in the media, in construction and building and among proponents of going green. What is the project, how did you get involved, and what stage is it in now?

I’ve been working with Dave and Anna Porter, the homeowners, since July 2006. It’s really exciting to see how all the elements of the project have come to fruition. Public tours of the Porter home begin October 27 and continue through November 11.

A lot of people – the owners, vendors, suppliers, builders, artists, promoters, media – have come together to make this a success. The project has already been serving an educational function through presentations and the website, www.goinggreenatthebeach.com, and will continue to do so by informing people about green construction, alternative energy, geothermal energy, green roofs, recycling construction materials and so forth. There’s something for everyone, from people interested in energy system design to those looking for beautiful recycled-content finish materials. The Porters’ home has been called the greenest house in the Northwest.

7. What’s your prognostication of where green goes from here?

More and more elements of green will become part of standard practice. Expectations for what is considered to be a well-built home will be higher. This is a natural progression - for example, wall insulation was not a standard practice in new construction until the early 1970s.

I think the next major focus will be water conservation, as we become more and more aware of what a precious commodity it is. Site preparation and landscaping on new construction projects will be done to allow storm water to be treated more naturally before it enters streams and rivers. Many people are switching from asphalt roofs, which can leach toxins into rainwater, to metal roofs, which do not. Deconstruction and salvage will become increasingly important – 40% of what goes into our landfills is construction debris. That’s a big business opportunity right there.

What I like best about all of this is the collaboration of so many dedicated people – we’re all learning together, forming partnerships and sharing our experiences. It’s an exciting time to be involved in the green building field!