The ABC (Affordable, Buildable, Certified) Green Home was unveiled to the press today at the OC Great Park.
I got to preview this one-of-a-kind home and it’s a beauty.
For the full story, check out my post over at OCFamily.com.
Happy Wednesday!
Tag Archives: green
Farmers’ Market Report: Foothill Ranch
Opening in July of this year, the Foothill Ranch Farmers’ Market is one of Orange County’s newest Markets.
Market manager Flo Mudge, a Foothill Ranch resident, is the creator and organizer behind the weekly event. She’s a familiar face at Orange County markets, selling her handmade preserves and confections through her company Edible Creations.
More than twenty vendors regularly set up shop from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays in the Towne Centre Drive shopping center in Foothill Ranch (in the same parking lot at the Regal movie theater).
I brought my son along with me, which was a good thing. We filled up all of my Chico bags with good stuff.
There is more than just local, organic produce. There is also bread from RTR Bakery, grass-fed beef from 5 Bar Beef, milk and dairy products from Rockview Farms, hummus and pita bread from Baba Foods, almonds and almond butter from Hopkins Ag, chips and salsa from Chili Boys, gelato from Dolce Gelato, banana bread from Aloha Grindz, and cookies from Turlio Cookie Company (the Peanut Cake were my son’s favorite).
All of the vendors had samples of their products so you can “try before you buy”. We sampled lots of tasty things and came home with all of this:
I cooked up a few of the veggies for dinner and was very happy with the freshness and quality. The Aloha Grindz banana bread is delicious. I can’t wait to munch on the almonds, chips and salsa, and pita and hummus this weekend.
And the nice gentleman at the RTR bakery booth insisted that the bread I bought pairs best with red wine. So, what could I do, I had to oblige him.
I have to say, the man knows his bread.
For more information on this new Orange County market, follow Foothill Ranch Certified Farmers’ Market on their Facebook page. A lineup of vendors for each Thursday is also posted on this page of LakeForestPatch site.
Journey to Solar – Part Two, Financing
Once you make the decision to go solar, the next step is deciding how you want to pay for it.
Solar has come a long way from the days of buying the panels outright.
Today’s solar is flexible and can accommodate many different budgets.
There are basically three ways to go solar:
1. Purchase – this is the oldest and was the most common way to go solar years ago. Basically, you purchase the system, and apply for and receive all your rebates from the Federal and State government directly. Once you have the system installed, it is yours forever, but you are on your own for maintenance and service outside of the warranties. These days, very few customers go with this option.
2. Pre-Pay – This relatively new plan allows you to “pre-pay” your solar energy usage for a set period of time – generally 20 years. You pay a set amount upon installation of your solar panels – essentially, what you would pay for the kilowatt hours (kWh) at today’s rates, and then get all of your solar energy at no additional cost for the next 20 years. In fact, if your solar system does not generate the guaranteed amount of kWh on an annual basis, the solar company will be sending a check to you each year. At the end of the twenty years, you can renew your plan (at discounted rates) or turn the solar panels back in to the company. This plan includes system monitoring, repair service, insurance coverage, and a performance guarantee for the duration of the contract term.
3. Solar lease or Solar PPA – Both of these options essentially boil down to a zero-money-down situation, where you pay a monthly amount to the solar company once your panels are installed and up and running. They offer similar financial advantages to the homeowner. The primary difference is that with a lease you pay a set amount per month, and with a PPA you pay per kWh. One of the benefits of the SolarPPA is that you can purchase the system any time after year five. Availability of SolarPPA and SolarLease vary by location based on what your local utility company prefers. This plan also includes a “buy-out” at the end of the term, or turning panels back in to the solar provider (if they even want them at that point). Both of these plans offer flexible payment options, system monitoring, repair service, insurance coverage, and a performance guarantee for the duration of the contract term.
One thing I like about going with a full-service company like Solar City, is that regardless of which payment option you choose, they take care of every step of the process —including engineering, financing, permits, installation and ongoing monitoring.
In our situation, the Pre-Pay plan was the best deal by far – even better than purchase. With an initial investment of $22,000, it was calculated that we would save $90,000 in energy costs over the twenty-year period. With the payment plan, we could invest nothing initially, pay a set $235 per month for twenty years, and save around $60,000 in energy costs over the lifetime of our contract.
So our decision was whether we finance through the solar company at a set price of $235 per month – effectively paying them $53,000 over twenty years, or find a way to pay them an initial investment of $22,000 (even if we have to borrow money to put that down). For us, the flat fee of $22,000 made more sense. Money is so cheap these days, with interest rates at all-time lows, we just think that the initial payment makes sense financially. If you have access to cheap money through a line of credit, or savings, or even selling some investments, I think it makes sense. I mean, what investment is going to guarantee a return of $90,000 over the next twenty years?
In both scenarios, we would still have a small electric bill depending upon our energy usage. Also, it was projected that we would save a few thousand dollars on our electric bill per year initially, but that amount moved up to almost $9000 per year in year twenty of our agreement. The reason the savings are so high is that unlike electricity, the payment to the solar company is set per month, with no increase, over the course of twenty years.
With energy prices rising approximately 39% over the past decade, and estimated to continue, by locking in your energy costs now, you save a bundle over the next couple of decades.
Even if we decide to sell our house, the solar agreement is transferable, or we can transfer the solar panels to a new home. What’s more, homes that have solar panels are shown to increase in value by 3-4%, which for most people, covers the cost of the system.
But everyone’s situation is different and each buyer has to make the decision that is right for them. The bottom line is that no matter what option you choose, you are going to save money in the long-term by going solar.
For more on solar financing options, you can check out this link.
Wordless Wednesday: Bring on Fall
I was in a Fall kind of mood yesterday, so I got to decorating the house and baking pumpkin bread.
The fact that is was 85 degrees outside did not deter me.
I’m going with the “if you build it they will come” theory on Fall weather. Just looked at the forecast for the rest of the week. It’s not working out so well.
Spotted in OC: 7g Recycling Bins
I just saw these today in the parking lot of the Lowe’s in Rancho Santa Margarita.
I had to take some pictures and then go home to investigate further.
Turns out, these are placed there by a company called 7th Generation Recycling. 7G partners with local non-profits, religious organizations, schools, community groups and others to recycle clothing, shoes & household textiles. The company’s collection efforts ensure that the recycled clothing benefits people in our local communities as well as people in Third World Countries.
It is a “green” business, not a non-profit like, say Goodwill or Salvation Army, so keep that in mind if you do donate. But 7th Generation Recycling appears to be a social responsible business that helps promote charitable recycling drives to benefit non-profits and local community programs.
What I do like about these bins is the convenience factor. When I have donations I can just put them in my trunk and the next time I see these out and about, I can toss it in the bin – rather than making a special out-of-the-way trip to a designated donation site.
You can place in the bins any used clothing item and household textile such as pants, dresses, hats, shirts, drapes, curtains, blankets, towels, sheets, handbags, belts, and paired shoes. Stuffed Animals also acceptable. Yay, we have no shortage of those I’d like to see passed on. 😉
Textiles must be dry and in clean condition. Material that is wet or mildewed or contaminated from any liquid is not acceptable. Rubber, plastic toys, carpets, and floor mats are not acceptable.
So, if you have a few bags of clothing, shoes, or accessories taking up space in your home, toss it in your trunk and maybe you will find one of these bins in your local area. Or, swing by this one here in the Santa Margarita Marketplace in RSM.
Wordless Wednesday: Macy’s Store at Irvine Spectrum
The other day on the Ferris Wheel at the Irvine Spectrum I spied…solar panels on the top of Macy’s.
They made me smile. And think I should probably shop at Macy’s more often.
Journey to Solar – Part One, Making the Decision
We are in the process of going solar at our house. I want to document our journey to demonstrate how simple, easy and cost-effective it can be. And hopefully inspire some of you to consider solar panels for your own home.
We are a few steps down the road at this point, but I’ll start back at the beginning with Step One – making the decision to go solar.
The reasons to choose solar energy are numerous and well documented. Let’s just say for me, it breaks down to either powering our home using solar (a clean, non-polluting, completely renewable energy source) or continuing to run off fossil fuels (a finite source that pollutes our water and air, and is a primary contributor to climate change). It’s kind of a no-brainer.
With that said, I will focus primarily on the financial aspects of going solar. Quite simply, it can save you A LOT of money.
In general, when looking at solar purely from a financial perspective, it makes sense for those who own their homes, are planning to stay there in the near future, and generally have an electric bill that is over $150 per month.
For us, our journey to solar started shortly after we moved last year and received our first electric bill – over $400! I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen an electric bill over $200 in my life.
Since then, we have implemented some energy-saving, cost-cutting measures, like switching all our bulbs to CFL or LED, turning off appliances not in use, and installing a new dual-speed pool pump (that alone has saved us about $75 a month). With these measures, we have reduced our bill to about $300.
Still, way too high, and using far too much energy from the grid.
So, I started interviewing solar companies.
It turns out, we can go solar for no money down, lease the panels for around $200 per month, and reduce our electric bill to about $40. That means, we can start saving money every month, right away, with NO MONEY OUT OF POCKET. Not only that, but as the years go by and Edison’s rates continue to increase (vs. our fixed-lease rate for our panels), we save even more money. I’ll give you more details and the full breakdown in my next post.
The next step is to select a solar contractor to perform the installation.
After looking at many companies, and meeting extensively with three, I settled on Solar City.
So far, I am very happy with my decision. Solar City’s service is excellent, their technicians are timely, and they take care of the entire process for you – including engineering, financing, permits, installation and ongoing monitoring of your system performance.
Now, we are on our way. Actually, the van showed up today to get us moving forward. I was so excited. I felt like a kid on Christmas.
In my next post, I’ll break down the three main ways you can pay for solar, how the math works in our case, and how it may work for you too.
For a good overall summary of the process, check out this short, informative video, “Affordable Solar Power and Better Energy”.
(Point of clarification: Solar City in no way compensated me or provided me with any type of discounts for this recommendation. I selected them solely because I felt they were the best provider in California.)
Remembering September 11th
I had planned to share a post about recycling today, but on the anniversary of September 11th, it’s hard to focus on writing about much else.
The funny thing is that today was just a normal day filled with the regular activities of school and work – nothing out of the ordinary. And unlike last year (when I watched non-stop TV and cried almost the entire day), I didn’t really do much to commemorate the anniversary.
The thing that is remarkable to me is that this day was completely unremarkable. Back on this day in 2001, I didn’t think that would ever be the case. After the events of that day, I wasn’t sure if life would ever get back to any sense of normal again.
I remember watching TV while nursing my three-month old son. I looked down at his innocent face and thought “My God. What kind of world did I bring you into?” And I just started to sob, and sob, and sob. I felt so sad, so hopeless, so scared. I felt like life as I knew it would never be the same.
But then, something remarkable happened. In the days and weeks following that terrible day, we became united. We pulled together in a way that I have never seen before. We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and started to rebuild…together.
All that working together – it actually worked. We did go back to work. We went back to school. We went back to life.
And my little baby is now an eleven-year-old boy with a normal, happy life. He feels safe and secure at home, at school, and traveling around this country. He has visited New York City and The Memorial Museum. Although he will never truly understand what that day meant to those who lived through it, he understands the kind of destruction that hate and intolerance can cause.
Which gives me hope for his generation, hope for his future, hope for the country.
President Obama said today during September 11th Observance Ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial “The true legacy of 9/11 will not be one of fear or hate or division. It will be a safer world; a stronger nation; and a people more united than ever before.”
I truly hope that is the case. Although at times it does not feel like that, in the long run, I do believe that it will be. For me, September 11th is a day when we should focus on the UNITED part of the United States of America and look to see how we can strengthen that in our own lives and communities.
We will not ever (nor should we) agree – on things like religion, politics, or even which fast food restaurant we will frequent. But in spite of the disagreements, I hope that we still respect, still listen, still love.
We can focus on our common goals – healthy children; stable jobs; clean air and water; and a democracy that really does work by and for the people. I want all of these things for me, for you, but most of all for these two. They deserve it, and so do we.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Farmers’ Market Report: Huntington Beach
I love discovering new Farmers’ Markets. There are many throughout Orange County. My goal is to find and report on each and every one – well, eventually.
Last week, I happened upon the Huntington Beach Farmer’s Market at Huntington Pier.
Held Friday afternoons in Huntington Beach at the Pier Plaza parking lot (just north of the HB pier), it runs from Noon to Five.
The Farmers’ Market runs year-round, except during the U.S. Open in late July.
There is plenty of organic produce:
Other offerings include sustainable seafood, locally-grown flowers and some great healthy snack items.
My favorite find of the day was Delaverde chips, salsa and guacamole.
Wow, this stuff is good. Made locally with small distribution just in OC, this is a real find. The guacamole is the only guac. I have ever purchased that actually tastes like homemade.
It’s locally made, with fresh ingredients, and preservative-free. If you visit the HB Farmers’ Market, make sure you pick some of this stuff up. You won’t be disappointed.
This Farmers’ Market is often held in conjunction with a shopping fair of hand-crafted gift items such as jewelry, clothing, rugs, artwork, plaques, home decor and much more from around 50 – 100 crafters. We ventured to the craft fair next door and checked out lots of locally made goods as well.
And shopping right on the beach with a beautiful ocean breeze – you can’t go wrong.
So, which Orange County Farmer’s Market to visit next? Anyone have suggestions? Would love to hear about the markets you have visited in your area and what you recommend.
On Death, Dreams and Dragonflies
Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of my father’s passing. And today, not coincidentally, I’m launching my long overdue blog site.
What does all of this have to do with this crazy post title? Hopefully this story helps it make some sense…
In the two years since my dad’s death, I have had many dreams about him. In some he’s alive, in others he’s sick, and in some, he has died. But (and here’s the part that may cause you to think I’m crazy), there have been two dreams that didn’t really feel like dreams at all. There were more like “visits”. I’m not going to share all the details because that would make for a very long post, but believe me, these dreams were different than any I have ever experienced in my life. And, I really am sane…at least most of the time.
In each of the two dreams, I could tell that my dad was sending me a message. The first time, it was letting me know that he was healthy, happy and okay. Considering that he was not able to communicate with me before dying, that he was on a ventilator, that I had to have “that talk” with the doctors in ICU and make the decision to take him off it, this was information that I needed – badly. That dream was about a year ago. It gave me a lot of peace.
The most recent dream was about two weeks ago. In it, I could tell that my dad was sending me a message about my life and how I’m living it. You see, ever since his death, the loss of my business, and some other personal issues in my life (all hitting right around the same time), I’ve been in a bit of a funk. I’ve suffered from, at times, a debilitating lack of self-confidence and inability to move forward with my life. In this dream, my dad was sort of saying to me – “you are here, make the most of it, live life, pray, be happy, and I’ll see you again.”
Then (okay, again, don’t think I’m crazy), right after that, one red dragonfly appeared in my backyard and began to fly over our pool all day…and the next day…and the next…and the next. Each time my husband, my kids or I went into the backyard, there was that dragonfly. (Note: my dad loved dragons. He had a collection of them, some of which now reside in my son’s room). It took me days to make any connection. The kids even noticed the dragonfly – “boy that dragonfly sure loves our backyard” my son said one day.
Finally, I googled “meaning of the dragonfly“. That is when the light bulb went off and I got it. Here are a few of the highlights:
- The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.
- The dragonfly exhibits iridescence both on its wings as well as on its body… The magical property of iridescence is associated with the discovery of one’s own abilities by unmasking the real self and removing the doubts one casts on his/her own sense of identity. This again indirectly means self discovery and removal of inhibitions.
- The dragonfly normally lives most of its life as a nymph or an immature. It flies only for a fraction of its life and usually not more than a few months. This adult dragonfly does it all in these few months and leaves nothing to be desired. This style of life symbolizes and exemplifies the virtue of living IN the moment and living life to the fullest. By living in the moment you are aware of who you are, where you are, what you are doing, what you want, what you don’t and make informed choices on a moment-to-moment basis. This ability lets you live your life without regrets like the great dragonfly.
The dragonfly has much to teach me – about life, love, loss, forgiveness, and most of all – living in the present. Last week, I picked up this little necklace at the Sawdust Festival as my daily reminder:
I’m incorporating the message of the dragonfly into many aspects of my life, this blog being one of them. I’ve been thinking about launching this site for about a year but have hesitated – “But it’s not ready yet. It doesn’t look the way I want it. What if no one reads it? What if no one cares? What if everyone hates my writing?” – my inner voice has told me all of these things.
Well, here’s the thing I have realized – none of that really matters. I’m not doing this to make money, sell products, or land some book deal. I’m just trying to use the space I take up on this planet to do some good. That’s it. Period. So, if only my mom reads (which of course she will), it’s okay. Eventually, someone else will read, and care, and maybe make one small change to take better care of this planet.
And one small change, made right now, in this moment, is a good thing.
Or maybe someone else will not think I’m crazy … and will learn to love dragonflies.
OC Green Mama 