Lower electricity bills, lower emissions, and more green jobs

Here at EOS we are especially pleased to hear that the Obama administration is stepping up the economic incentives for improving home energy efficiency. A "Cash for Caulkers" stimulus package is in the works, which will make every home, apartment, commercial, and industrial building eligible for up to a $12,000 rebate for energy retrofits! The timing is perfect for us to continue with phase two of our GreenBlocks pilot program. Phase two will include implementing the suggested retrofits of the 95 homes that we audited last spring. Purchasing energy efficient appliances, adding insulation, and eliminating air leakage are all things that will be eligible for a 50% rebate on both the price of the equipment and the installation. Not only is this going to be a great program to reduce our country's overall carbon emissions, but it will also be key in the creation of much needed green jobs.

After the new year we will be moving forward with our second round of GreenBlocks. If you are interested, the first step is making the investment to have a certified energy auditor come to your home to assess it for weatherization opportunities. Contact the sustainability team at EOS to request an audit , and our certified staff will schedule the audit date and time. You may also call us at (206)762-2553. After the new year we will be moving forward with our second round of GreenBlocks. If you are interested, the first step is making the investment to have a certified energy auditor come to your home to assess it for weatherization opportunities. Contact (LINK here) the Sustainability team at EOS to request an audit , and our certified staff will schedule the audit date and time. You may also call us at (206)762-2553. ">

Habitat Restoration Monthly Work Parties!

Beginning Saturday, December 12^th EOS Alliance is hosting monthly work parties at the Maple School Natural Area! Starting in January the work parties will be the third Saturday of every month; and for those of you who think “work” and “party” don't go together, you obviously haven't worked with this AmeriCorps team yet!

Work parties may include invasive plant removal, site prep work, and plantings. Our goal is to continue our habitat restoration work in this natural area, completing the process by 2013. This project is part of the Green Seattle Partnership, an important initiative to restore parks and natural areas across Seattle. And now for a history lesson...

About 100 years ago the Seattle region was logged for timber. Conifers were cut down and removed, decimating seed banks and allowing quick-growing deciduous trees to grow in their place. Deciduous trees such as Big Leaf Maples and Red Alders are native to the Seattle area, but forests in this region should be dominated by conifers. Expanses of these deciduous trees led to forests with short lifespans and additional light in the winter months for hungry invasives. Seattle's forests have gotten to the point where within twenty years, 70% of Seattle's forests may become ecological dead zones full of invasive plants, dead or dying trees, and without appropriate wildlife habitat.

We can be part of the solution to this problem. The Green Seattle Partnership aims to restore 2,500 acres by the year 2025. EOS Alliance is a member of this partnership at the Maple School Natural Area. Please join us as we fight to save our city's forests and create a better living environment for Seattle

For more information, visit our website at eosalliance.org or come to our first work party on Saturday, December 12^th from 10am to 2pm at the Maple School Natural Area (20^th Ave S & S Lucile St at the top of the stairs).

EOS Sustainability Team tackles weatherization for the cameras

This week half of the Sustainability Team at EOS Alliance joined up with Dan Wildenhaus of Green Dog Enterprises, Doug Kennedy of Pathway Design and Construction, and John Alexander of Sunshine Construction for a hands-on workshop that was being filmed for a pilot of a PBS series on home weatherization and retrofitting. The PBS series aims to educate home owners about how they can improve the energy performance of their houses, increase their comfort, and save money on heating and electrical bills.

The team met up at a house near Golden Gardens Park ready to dive in and get their hands dirty. After a short introduction, and with the camera rolling, Dan launched into a demonstration of home air leakage using a model of a house made from a cardboard box, a smoke pen, and a light bulb.  This demo emphasized the importance of air sealing the attic of the house to prevent warm air from escaping out of holes near the top of the house and cold air from being drawn in down low.  The team then performed a quick blower door test to determine the amount of air leakage within the house, which was fairly high (approximately 2250 cubic feet per minute).  On top of this, a zone test done with the blower door running revealed the attic had many leaks into the main floor of the house, which could be addressed.  With this information and the demo fresh in their heads, the team moved up into the attic to learn air sealing techniques and to put their new found knowledge into action.

Dan started off the hands-on workshop with an explanation, and demo, of using spray foam insulation to seal gaps in floor joists and around plumbing and electrical penetrations.  "Great Stuff" brand spray foam was used for these projects and is easy to use after a bit of practice (see video below).   Just don't forget to wear gloves, as it can get sticky!  Spray foam insulating around these areas prevents air leaking through the numerous holes in ceilings and must be done before batt insulation can be installed in the attic.  While fiberglass batts act as a great insulator they still allow air to pass through, hence the need for a quality air barrier.  Dan also used the spray foam together with pieces of rigid foam board to seal off a large cold space created by a dropped ceiling.  Lastly, vent ducting in the attic was insulated using slim R-4 fiberglass batts.  This prevents condensation from forming within the ducting which could lead to issues with mold, mildew, and reduced fan performance in the long run.

To wrap up, the team performed another blower door test to see how effective the sealing they had done actually was.  This second test gave them a much lower result, 1850 cubic feet per minute, demonstrating that the couple of hours in the attic had dramatically reduced the amount of air leakage in the house.  This was roughly the equivalent of sealing up a 40 square inch hole in the side of the house.  Not a bad result, and certainly an improvement that will be felt by the homeowner!

In the coming weeks the other half of the Sustainability Team will be going out to another  work site with Dan, Doug, and John to tackle weatherization projects that can be done in a basement or crawlspace which will also be filmed as part of the PBS series.  Stay tuned to the EOS blog for an update on how this workshop goes!

Act soon to apply your home energy improvement to your 2009 taxes

For you homeowners out there looking to get an $economic incentive$ on an energy efficient improvement to your home, time is running out if you want to claim it on your 2009 taxes.

To be able to apply the tax credit to your 2009 taxes, you must act before the deadline of DECEMBER 31st, 2009. Be able to celebrate that new year knowing that you took advantage of the best incentive to help save energy that we've ever been offered.

Already have in mind something you are looking to upgrade?

• Check the Energy Star's Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency page for FAQs and details about what will qualify.
• Come tax time, use the most recent draft from the IRS form for Residential Energy Tax Credits.
• Remember, you'll need a manufacturer's certification statement for any products you intend to get a tax credit reimbursement. Many companies have their certification statements online.

$1,500 is the maximum applicable tax credits that can be claimed for most home improvements, EXCEPT for geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, solar panels, fuel cells, and small wind energy systems which are not subject to this cap, and are in effect through 2016!

Eat Local this Thanksgiving

We call it Turkey Day for a reason—Thanksgiving totally revolves around food, so what better day to support a localized food system? By adding one or more locally sourced dishes to your Thanksgiving menu, you’ll decrease your carbon footprint, help preserve local farmland, and support the local economy. Plus, you’ll get delicious, fresh, and unique foods to add to your Thanksgiving table. Most importantly, you can educate your friends and family on the benefits of eating local foods and show them how delicious and easy it can be.

Thanksgiving is a good holiday to take local because it’s a traditional harvest festival that celebrates seasonal food. That means it’s easy to make your favorite traditional dishes with local foods, just substitute some locally grown ingredients.

For example:

Mashed Potatoes make an easy start. You don’t have to change anything about your recipe, just buy some potatoes from the farmer’s market and mash them! You might encounter some interesting varieties; ask the vendor for a starchy or all-purpose variety.

Crudités, also known as the veggie tray, are another easy dish to take local. Replace the baby carrots with farmer’s market carrots that you cut up yourself, along with some local celery. Then add in some parsnips, and maybe you’ll introduce some kids to a new veggie!

Stuffing can incorporate homemade bread cubes. Use a homemade loaf or one from a local bakery, cut into 1-inch cubes. Toast the cubes in a 200-degree oven until dried through but not browned at all. Use these cubes in your favorite stuffing recipe, adding homemade stock for extra credit!

Pumpkin pie, that Thanksgiving classic, doesn’t have to come out of a can. Pick up a pie pumpkin (or another winter squash) at the farmers market. Carefully cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds (roast them for tasty treat), and place cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Put the sheet in a 325-degree oven and pour a quarter-inch of water into the pan. Roast until tender, about 1 hour, adding more water to the pan if necessary. Let cool and then scoop the flesh out and puree it. Add the puree in place of the canned pumpkin in your favorite recipe. You can also do this several weeks ahead of time and save the puree in the freezer.

Apple pie is a great celebration of our local Washington produce. You can find Washington-grown apples in many grocery stores, even if you can’t make it to the farmer’s market. At the market ask for a tart variety, Pink Ladies are my favorite.

Turkey stock adds extra Thanksgiving flavor to stuffing, gravy, and various leftover creations. Ask a local butcher for soup bones, parts like turkey necks are often wasted because people don’t know how to use them any more. A few days ahead, boil these with an onion, a carrot, celery, and a turnip, along with some fresh thyme, sage and savory. Strain and save in the refrigerator or freezer until the big feast.

Cascade Harvest Coalition and Puget Sound Fresh are encouraging King County residents to take a pledge to add one local dish to their Thanksgiving table. Take the pledge and find more resources, like where to buy, what’s in season, and some new recipes, at eatlocalforthanksgiving.org.

Green Blocks In-Home Workshop

It was a busy weekend for the EOS Alliance team! Over at Maple School Natural area, 160 plants were given a new home by volunteers from the Garfield High School Key Club. It was a wet workday but all the effort paid off and we want to send a big “Thank You” to everyone who stopped by and helped make that green space a little bit greener.

Meanwhile, up in Wallingford a much smaller group was gathering to learn about do-it-yourself weatherization projects that every homeowner can undertake. Green Blocks participants Michael and Julie Kucher were kind enough to open up their home to a group of would-be home retrofitters who saw first hand how to install weatherstripping, insulate an attic hatch and seal up pesky cracks that silently whisk away heat from most of our homes.


Guided by local home efficiency guru Bob Thoreson, we bounced around the Kucher household performing a variety of retrofits with a range of difficulty levels. The most challenging proved to be the recessed can lights (see diagram), although the energy savings make that task well worth the effort. Bob carefully walked us step-by-step through the process, providing us with confidence to take this knowledge and apply it to our own homes.

More do-it-yourself workshops are in the planning stages for other Green Blocks neighborhoods and we are looking forward to the next opportunity to make practical, money saving changes in a real-life home!

EOS celebrates 4th annual Green Seattle Day

The Green Seattle Partnership was formed in 2004 as the result of an agreement between the city of Seattle and the Cascade Land Conservancy. In the past, 450 acres of land has been restored, 40,000 trees have been planted and over 300,000 volunteer hours have been logged thanks to the hard work and dedication of the community during Green Seattle Day.

This year the partnership set a goal to have 1,000 volunteers participate at 17 different sites all over Seattle. As a Green Seattle Community Partner, EOS Alliance spent Saturday, November 7th at the Maple School Natural Area planting native species of trees and shrubs across the 15 acre green space. We had 12 youth and 18 adult volunteers working with the Sustainability Team throughout the day.

Garfield HS Key Club hard at work

The morning skies seemed clear at first, but we were swallowing our hopes of a nice planting day after introductions and enjoying some morning snacks. As we finished our tool safety discussion and started to go into a demonstration of correct planting procedure, the rain started to come down hard. Regardless of the weather, the crew along with several volunteers from the Garfield High School Key Club trudged through the mud and carefully navigated across the slippery leaf-covered slope. We fought to keep the team morale high as our gloves quickly got heavy with mud and the cold rain started slow our progress. After just a couple of hours of hard work we were able to transplant many Red Alder, Big Leaf Maple, Douglas Fir, and Western Red Cedar trees along with Sword Ferns and various shrubs, such as Snowberry, Salal and Kinnikinnik. Due to the extreme weather conditions the EOS team decided to call off the planting early. Even though we had to cut the event short, over 100 plants made it into the ground.

Muddy, but still smiling

After regrouping and doing some quality control, the rain seemed to subside. Luckily, we had previously scheduled a second round of volunteers to show up around 1:30 PM for more planting. A group of about 15 members from a wedding party wanted to celebrate their special day by getting outside and making a difference in their community. The afternoon was beautiful and another 60 plants were brought to rest in their new home at the Maple School Natural Area. This brought our planting total to just about 160 for the day. All of the plants were donated to EOS by the Green Seattle Partnership. Overall, Green Seattle Day was a success and everyone involved gained something positive from the experience.

A great way to spend the day, even your wedding day!

For more information on Green Seattle Day or the Green Seattle Partnership visit:

http://www.greenseattle.org/