San Diego Green Homes Tour to Feature Top Trends in Sustainable Building and Living Practices

Solana Beach, CA, October 21, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The San Diego Green Building Council (SDGBC) will host a one-day event on Nov. 9 showcasing a range of sustainable dwellings to the community, from a renovated old beach cottage to a brand-new multi-family complex.  The self-guided 2014 Green Homes Tour will allow participants to visit the premier green properties of San Diego and speak with homeowners, architects, designers and green gurus about the eco-conscious options featured.

“The Green Homes Tour is an opportunity for community members to tour sustainable and innovative urban homes of all types,” said Renee Daigneault, interim executive director of the San Diego Green Building Council. “Our hope is to educate, empower and inspire visitors to learn how they can make their own homes healthier, more sustainable and energy efficient.”

For $5 SDGBC, and these inspired homeowners, are offering visitors the opportunity to tour at least eight green homes featured across the county, located in the neighborhoods of El Cajon, Jamul, Ramona, La Jolla, South Park, Lemon Grove, Sunset Cliffs and downtown San Diego. Key features and highlights of the different properties on the tour include:

- Single family custom strawbale home with a boulder centerpiece –(a natural energy regulator), and features natural plaster, reused building materials and solar energy installations

- A Super-Green home in Ramona seeking to become San Diego’s FIRST Certified “Passive House” as well as surpassing LEED Platinum certification – achieves net positive energy and features the county’s first onsite black water treatment system

- 16-unit complex of urban-chic, renovated lofts built to LEED Platinum Multifamily standards – certified by the NSHP (New Solar Homes Program) and the California Advanced Homes Program

- LEED Platinum residential beach house – designed around the aesthetically pleasing Photovoltaic System’s glass solar collectors

- Water harvesting and simple living demonstration house – features an outdoor renovation that creates a regenerative, edible landscape that reuses water and provides natural habitat

- Environmentally-friendly retrofitted home , a National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habitat and San Diego water reclamation project

Tour attendees will see the latest in new green construction practices and retrofit possibilities.  They’ll also learn about innovative products and methods and meet some of the contractors that are making local properties healthier, “greener” and more energy efficient. 

For more tour home addresses and more information, register for the Green Homes Tour and learn about the VIP Bus Tour by visiting www.usgbc-sd.org/event-1724613.

About San Diego Green Building Council

The San Diego Green Building Council is a 501(c)3 environmental non-profit dedicated to providing education, outreach, and advocacy surrounding green building in the San Diego community.  The San Diego Chapter of the US Green Building Council is organized around our vision that “our buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation”. Our mission is “to inspire, educate and collaborate within our community to transform our built environment toward true sustainability”. To learn more, please visit http://www.usgbc-sd.org/.