USA urban foreclosures provide opportunity for Greening of America

Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago; Rising foreclosure risks

Major US cities are experiencing a forsclosure crisis in 2011, and this presents a window of opportunity for urban energy efficiency and clean energy technologies. According to Alex Veiga's Associated Press report in the Toronto Star today:

In Seattle, Houston, Chicago and Atlanta, a growing number of homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and finding themselves on the receiving end of foreclosure warnings. Others have already seen their homes repossessed by lenders.

All told, foreclosure activity jumped in 149 of the country’s 206 largest metropolitan areas last year, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure. Job loss, rather than time-bomb mortgages resetting to higher payments, has become the main driver behind rising foreclosures.

“We’ve actually had a sea change in what’s causing foreclosures, from the overheated home prices and bad loans to a second wave of foreclosures actually caused by unemployment and economic displacement,” says Rick Sharga, a senior vice-president at RealtyTrac.

The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area in Texas saw its foreclosure rate jump 26 per cent from 2009, the largest increase among the top 20 biggest metro areas, the firm said.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, in Washington State, ranked second with an increase of nearly 23 per cent, while the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metro area in Georgia was third with a 21 per cent bump.

In the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan area of Illinois, foreclosure activity rose 16 per cent, while home repossessions climbed nearly 20 per cent, RealtyTrac said.

“As the economy and unemployment improve, you’ll see those markets recover fairly quickly, whereas you’re still going to have a bit of a hangover in places like California, Florida and Nevada,” Sharga said.

Those states, and Arizona, remain the country’s foreclosure hotbeds, accounting for 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in 2010.


The worst may be behind us, but we're not out of the woods yet. Instead of packaging these homes by the dozen and selling them to the same realtors who helped get us into this mess, innovative banks should hook up with local retrofitters to "green" these homes before returning them to the real estate market.

Full AP article about Rampant foreclosures in big USA cities

Architect Eric Corey Freed offers 5 Tips to Green Your Home

Courtesy of my email subscription to Inhabitat.com's newsletter (try it, you'll like it!), I was happy to see the article 5 Tips to Greening Your Home, by Organic Architect Eric Corey Freed.

TIP 1: Wrap Your Home in Insulation – “The More, The Better!”

Proper insulation is probably the most important factor you can control in creating an energy-efficient home. I always say insulation is like chocolate, the more you have, the better! On average, ½ of your home’s heating and cooling will escape through walls (35%), windows (25%), floor (15%) and roof (25%). Therefore, the first thing you should do to determine where insulation is needed is to scan your home with a thermal radiometer or infrared scanner in order to detect where your home is leaking heat.



TIP 2: Manage Your Heating and Cooling Intelligently with a Thermostat

All the insulation in the world won’t make a difference in cutting energy costs if you aren’t smart about how you heat and cool your house. This may sound blindingly obvious to some, but you can cut your heating bill in half if you are strategic about WHEN your heating and cooling is running. Without a thermostat to guide them, most heating/cooling systems are dumb and blind and will consume loads of energy keeping your bedroom nice and toasty during the day (when you are not home), or warming your living room at night (when you are asleep). If you connect your heating and cooling system to a programmable thermostat, you can heat/cool different rooms at specific times during the day when people will be in those rooms (such as between 6-8pm in the evening, after work). Many brands of thermostats (check out Honeywell) even have smart phone apps that allow you to program your heating and cooling on the fly, remotely.


TIP 3: Conserve Water Through Smart Technology

Because water seems plentiful and is all-around us, most Americans have no idea about the coming water crisis. Our water infrastructure is crumbling in this country and potable water shortages are going to become commonplace within 10 years. You can get a jump on tackling this looming problem by installing some water-saving appliances in your house, such as low-flow shower-heads and water-saving toilets. I’m a big fan of the AQUS grey water toilet, which recycles grey water from your sink to flush your toilet!

60% of the average American’s water use takes place outside the home (in irrigating water-sucking lawns), so ditch the 1950′s Cleaver-style lawn and consider “xeriscaping” – planting native foliage that doesn’t need high maintenance watering and fertilizing.


View full online article Five Tips to Greening Your House, by architect Eric Corey Freed

21st Century Architecture profiles Paul Raff, Christopher Simmonds

Ontario architects Paul Raff (Toronto-based Paul Raff Studio) and Christopher Simmonds have each been profiled on the sustainable buildings blog 21st Century Architecture.

Paul Raff architecture:





Paul Raff feature on 21st Century Architecture blog





Christopher Simmonds architecture:






Christopher Simmonds feature on 21st Century Architecture blog