•  Solar hot water hybrid systems to reduce the cost and energy needs for hot water.

•  Wind generators on site on buildings to supplement power needs.

•  Green roofs - reduce both annual and peak run off into our streams, reduce the “island heat effect”, create a “quieting” just like snow in the winter, improve the air like any nature plantings while attracting insects like bees that attracts the birds. Done well, green roofs last longer-much longer that your typical roofing material as the plantings and soil protect the sub base from the heat of the sun and the cold of the winter.

•  Rain gardens in conjunction with the green roofs, maximize the way we can use rain water by retaining the peak period runoffs while providing water storage for watering flower and vegetable gardens during dry periods.  Thoughtfully designed these rain gardens can use gravity to water gardens of lower areas and hand pumps all reducing the need for both power and potable water for our plant friends.

•  Salmon friendly streets - Even in high density commercial areas, we can think in terms of planting, cleaning and caring for our street run off to reduce and all but eliminate our existing street uses on our salmon. The more new communities do this the less capital and maintenance costs we will need in the future without having the cost to retrofit every existing residential and commercial property.

•  Organic vegetable gardens blended into all of the benefits are being created to provide some fresh healthy produce.  It will take years to learn how to do this best but we are starting now to learn how to create community garden centers that are filled with smart, productive and interesting choices.

•  Thoughtful people places create the human environment that provides the economic and political support for sustainability because our communities should be places people love to “come home to” and enjoy. Higher quality, wiser spaces means that we can provide a better living environment in some degree of smaller spaces, all of which reduces material needs to create, energy needs to keep heated, lighted and cooled while reducing the long term maintenance costs to our citizens.  It is about finding the balance.

•  Transportation needs to be thought about purposefully and located in ways to support public transportation, walking, flex cars and more. Integrating thoughtful transportation is critical to our society’s and planet’s long term success.  We must learn to reduce our dependence on oil and other depleting fuels That means we begin with properties that are very close to existing and long term public transportation with walkable distances to services.

•  Regional materials compliments the many other efforts as the shorter the distance a product has to travel, the less energy it needs.  Regional materials means “reduced energy distance factors” which generally means “close” to us.  Lumber from Washington State is better for us to use than importing woods from abroad over long land distances-appears simple on its face but in the world of cheap oil, we used a lot of wood (and other materials) from far-away places.

•  Politically, we must individually and together make take the action that dramatically reduces our dependence on non renewable resources (keep us out of world conflicts) while creating positive solutions to reduce our effects on global warming (save the polar bears-and ourselves).