What is an EcoBroker? EcoBroker is a certification undertaken by real estate professionals to give them additional expertise and training in the field of high performance homes. There are many aspects of the certification, and the aim is to make real estate agents more capable to serve their clients in marketing or buying their green homes.

Green homes in Austin are a larger share of the market than in other parts of the country - the City spawned the Austin Energy Green Building Program which begat LEED, and Central Texas is leading the country in the growth of LEED certified buildings.

As consumers become more demanding and more educated about aspects of home construction that will make their homes healthier and more efficient, some agents have started to differentiate themselves by seeking training. As an EcoBroker, I know what things to look for and have a network of like-minded people who can help my clients to achieve their green goals. Whether it’s improved indoor air-quality in a new home, lower utility bills, or the things to look out for in a home built in 1944 - I can point you in the right direction.

I’m not claiming to be an expert on which roof surface will support a solar PV array, but I know a man who is! And if you’ve invested in a 15 SEER HVAC system in a home you are selling, I know how to explain the benefits to a prospective buyer.

With many new homebuilders claiming their homes are green, it’s good to get a second opinion on such a large catch-all term. That’s where an EcoBroker comes in!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Car2Go is one of two car-sharing schemes in Austin, the other being Austin CarShare. Of the two, Car2Go is less commitment - a $35 joining fee means you can borrow a car at a reasonable rate any time.

This evening, I got my Car2Go card in the mail, and despite the fact that we have two cars for two adults in our family, I thought I’d test the system, and pop along to HEB to get some supplies for our young son, Otto. My wife’s car is a little sick, and given the promise of me walking to work in Mueller Austin, I wanted to test the idea of a single car for our family, in addition to a Car2Go car.

Also, I wanted to ride in a Smart Car and see how fast it would go around a roundabout. Not exactly green? Well, maybe not, but if I’m going to be testing cars, they might as well be 60mpg+ ones.

The system is delightfully simple. You pull out your phone or laptop, figure out where the nearest available car is, optionally reserve it, and toddle over on foot. I think the system works well if you’re near a bunch of other people who use them to drive to their homes, which I am. Mueller is full of forward thinking early adopters, and this presumably means people will drive cars here and then park them here much of the time. I see a bunch as I’m out and about, and tonight was no exception.

I had to walk 300 meters to get to my target vehicle, then I held up the card, entered a pin, retrieved the key and the monstrous engine roared to life. Actually, the car was quite fun to drive - what little of it there was. It accelerated passably with it’s jerry-rigged automatic gear shifting, and took a few moments to get used to.

Off to HEB. I had to park and keep the car key (and continue to rent it) as when I parked, I wasn’t apparently in the Car2Go service area. I thought I was, but heck, it ensured that my ride would be there when I got out, allbeit at 35 cents per shopping minute. I don’t think of the annualized cost of running my current car, and think I’m wasting money when it’s sitting in the garage, so a mental adjustment needs to be made.

I got back, avoided getting a speeding ticket as I passed two police cars on Airport Boulevard, and parked outside my home. Perfect, I thought. There was a little glitch when the car’s GPS thought I was very far away from the service area, and I was connected immediately by phone to a man from Belfast working in Holland for Car2Go. He asked me if I was under and large trees. Clearly he isn’t familiar with Mueller. I said I’d park 300 meters away (where I picked up the car) to see if the GPS could pick me up. It did. I parked and walked home.

A slight pain in the butt to be honest, but easily overcome by my wild enthusiasm for the idea of holding up a small device to locate a vehicle, walking to it and letting myself in with a plastic card. Seriously, the idea blows my mind. I want it to work.

I want people not to game the system (I’ve already had fantasies about getting a flash mob to collect a bunch of Car2Go vehicles and go out on a photo scavenger hunt, but realize this isn’t in the spirit of things). I want there to be more community cars, and less personal cars. And I don’t want to have to buy a Smart Car. The next step is more of the same for electric cars. Or even electric cars within the neighborhood. Can’t wait.

Car2Go Austin at Mueller

Looking at my trip, I could have driven another 20 minutes for no additional cost (though that certainly would have been a waste of energy). And there’s no way I managed to get to HEB and back and around the roundabout a few times in 1.9 miles. Until we get a walkable neighborhood here, I’m going to look very seriously at going down to 1 car.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Solar Panels in Austin:

Many people focus on just one element of the economics of installing a solar array on their home - payback period. They use a simple model of energy costs, energy production and derive a payoff period.

The major thing that is ignored in this approach is the actual value of the system on your roof. This is an asset which raises the resale value of your home. In my case it raised the estimated value of my home by more than the cost of the system.
I used a simple formula from the Appraisal Journal, which I talk about in the article “Do solar panels increase the value of your home?”. Now I’m not an appraiser, but I am an EcoBr0ker®, and I understand what it means to market your home as a high performance home with a lower cost of living.

In my opinion, the a solar installation with federal tax incentives and Austin Energy rebates can certainly be considered favorably alongside with the standard HGTV advice to tackle “kitchens and bathrooms”.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Here are some of the energy efficiency upgrades and green improvements they made before putting it on the market:

• Vented range hood. This drastically improves indoor air quality over the previous recirculating vent
• 14+ SEER HVAC heat pump. The unit is rated up to 15.5 SEER, and has kept the utility bills much lower than the neighboring condos (even the interior units)
• Radiant barrier in the attic to keep the ducts and the home cooler
• Low-E double pane windows help keep the heat gain down - despite the extra windows that this end unit has.
• They chose a great neighborhood with a walkscore of 83 / 100 - very walkable!

It’s great to see a 1982 condo given an energy loss makeover.

Their condo is available for sale (with some jaw-dropping views thrown in for free!) - see more information at my Austin home search site.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

1. It’s not easy being green. With so much green-washing it’s hard to know what’s green, and what’s green-painted. There’s no Federal standard on the usage of “green” - it’s not like “organic” - it’s unregulated.
2. Consumers don’t know what EcoBrokers are or what they do.
3. Home owners are unaware of the rebates and subsidies they can take advantage of right now. This will allow them to enjoy cost savings, a healthy home and help them differentiate their home when they come to sell.
4. Home owners aren’t sure who to trust when it comes to improving their homes.

I’m going to address these in coming posts, so stay tuned!

I know that most of the attention and marketing that consumers receive is from new green builders, such as those building homes at Mueller. They have great products, and a great story to tell with some builders offering 5 Star AEGBP rated homes (Streetman, Saldana, Muskin, and some custom builders), 4 Star AEGBP rated homes (Standard Pacific) and 3 Star AEGBP rated homes (David Weekley, Meritage).

The builders are ahead of the curve. As more and more highly educated Austin consumers become attuned to green homes, this is going to become more important to people wanting to sell their existing homes.

On the radio show I talked about sellers who had their ECAD audit and chose to fix the problems - 80% duct leakage. The HVAC fixes cost around $700, of which they get almost $450 back as rebates and incentives. Now I can market their home as having excellent duct work - 8% leakage - which is better than the requirement for some new home builders.

The only thing I wonder is, how much would they have saved in their utility bills if they had done this a year before selling, or two years before selling? I’ll bet they would have saved more than the $250 it ended up costing them, and would have given them better air quality.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Shade is the Enemy of the Solar Power Producer

Around 40 Mueller Austin residents are in the process of getting PV solar panels installed on their roofs.  But how do trees affect the picture?

This Statesman article chronicles the progress of the Mueller Mega-Watt project - and talks of the substantial Austin Energy rebates. One comment on the article brings up a potential future challenge - trees and shade.

The first Mueller homes were completed at the very end of 2006, so trees have not yet had chance to grow to 40 feet tall, though my Monterey Oak is growing fiercely towards that goal, and I’ve already had to rein it back.

Most home-owners in more established neighborhoods consider large shade trees a boon - a shade tree over an older roof can cut HVAC bills by up to 40% in summer. The PV panels that Mueller residents are choosing perform dual  functions:

• shading the sunniest part of the roof to reduce heat load on the home
• generating electricity to offset HVAC bills

So as the trees grow up in front of the South and West facing roof surfaces, they bring the enemy of PV panels - shade. And just a little shade can make a huge difference.

Above is an excerpt from Celestial Power’s solar proposal for the array currently on our roof. It shows that a tiny bit of shade can halve the output of the panels.

So the challenge is to keep your tree growth from interfering with the sunlight. Maybe we should get solar trees like these in Vienna!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Here’s my first bill!

The usage is shown above - fairly consistent with last August’s bill (for July).

The meter readings above show a clearer picture. My old meter was removed. I have a new “Net Meter” which shows the difference between my production and my usage. And I have a new “Solar Meter” which shows how much I’ve generated.
So I generated 241kWH in 18 days. This is more than Celestial Power had anticipated in their models, which is great news for me, and partly due to an assumption of the degradation of the panels over time.

Next steps: figure out how to unlandscape my yards and save on water too!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

The homes:

• SIPS construction (modular construction means a better insulated fit and faster construction)
• Solar power for each home
• 5 star green building rating (AEGBP)
• 1800 sqft
• Priced in the $300,000s
• Solar hot water
• 3kW solar panels for each home
• On demand gas fired water heaters

The location:

The twenty homes are being built in South Austin - 78745, near the junction of Longview and Cameron Loop, about a mile South of William Cannon and Brodie.  Check out this map of Las Casas Verdes.

Schools:

The homes are currently zoned as Boone, Covington, Crockett.

The Las Casas Verdes website has details of plans on the site. Each home is custom planned, and given the SIPS construction techniques, they should be ready in three months rather than the typical four to six of a production builder.

Get in touch if you’d like to see more of Las Casas Verdes!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

The article charts the progress in Austin’s first net zero energy community, and talks to some of the buyers who are planning to move in this summer.

The last word from the affordable program out there is that there is a substantial waiting list, though market rate homes are still available.

Buyers can enjoy a home that produces as much energy as it consumes over a year, with metal roofs, spray insulation and solar power in addition to geo-thermal HVAC.

Give me a call on 512 694 8873 for more information on what’s available at SOL Austin!

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873

Texas shoppers get a break from state and local sales and use taxes on purchases of certain energy efficient products on Saturday and Sunday.

Tax exempt products include:

Certain air conditioning units, clothes washers, dishwashers and ceiling fans. Fridges under $2000 also qualify.

Programmable thermostats are also eligible for tax exemption, though Austin Energy has programs in which it gives these away for “Power Partners”.

The exemption also applies for internet sales, as long as they are for immediate shipment, and ordered this weekend. Happy Green Shopping!

Read more about the tax holiday this weekend.

Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker® with Keller Williams Realty.

Specializing in: Green Austin Real Estate and New Green Homes in Austin.

(512) 694 8873