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Success StoriesMerritt Crossing is the first building in California to achieve Energy Star certification under the multifamily high-rise rating system. The project also received LEED Platinum, GreenPoint Rated and Bay-Friendly Rated Landscape certifications.
Enthusiastic owner-builders, Stefanie Parrott and Dixon Beatty “take their sustainable building seriously while approaching the daily grind of their owner-built project with a real sense of humor,” says their architect, Geoffrey Holton. The owners’ green goals started with the purchase of a Victorian house in the Oakland Point Historic District.
As a design/build architect and remodeling specialist, Maurice Levitch of Levitch Associates had always helped clients select design elements and materials based on economic factors and aesthetics.
Built 1908, Michael Boal's 2,200-square-foot Berkeley home was “remuddled” a few times over the decades, but still retained much of its traditional style. Boals brought in David Grubb Construction to rebuild the back of the house while preserving its nearly 100-year-old spirit.- Berkeley residents Kristin Leimkuhler and Jeffrey Wilk hired McCutcheon Construction to modernize their 1894 Victorian while preserving the building’s traditional exterior. Raising the house by three feet allowed them to transform a six-foot-high unfinished basement into a contemporary wheelchair-accessible first floor, doubling the home’s size to 2,815 square feet.
News | 07/21/2012A study by researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA found that homes in California labeled with Energy Star, GreenPoint Rated or LEED sell for a premium of nine percent compared to comparable, non-labeled homes. This is the first rigorous, large-scale independent economic analysis of the value of green home labels in California.
News | 01/27/2014Most of us say that recycling is important, but are we good at it? StopWaste spent the past year taking a look at garbage carts to find out. A report being mailed this week shows that residents and businesses in Alameda County dumped as much as $70 million of recyclable and compostable items in the garbage last year. The report is part of a new Benchmark Service from StopWaste, a public agency responsible for reducing waste in Alameda County.
Success StoriesIn 2009, the City of Emeryville transformed the site of an old warehouse and parking lot into Doyle Hollis Park, a beautiful neighborhood park that has earned the Bay-Friendly Rated Landscape designation.
Success StoriesThis case study showcases Willow Park, a half-acre public park in Union City, California. Thanks to committed City leadership and creative design, this pocket park is packed with community amenities and Bay-Friendly Landscape features.
Success StoriesEmeryville is fast becoming a hot spot for new urban green spaces that have earned the Bay-Friendly Rated Landscape label. One of the latest is a winding pathway tucked behind a shopping area on San Pablo Avenue, between Park Avenue and 45th Street.