By JIM SMITH, Realtor®
Golden Real Estate is known for its sustainable practices. Indeed, we were recognized as early as 2010 with the City of Golden’s Sustainability Award for Business.
Here are some of the practices and improvements which earned us this award, plus some measures we’ve taken since 2010 to deepen our commitment to sustainability.
Solar Power: Our office (and my own home) have enough solar panels to power not only our office, but our electric cars. In addition, we have two ChargePoint charging stations for EV’s that are free to the public.
Reusing trash bags: I can’t remember the last time I purchased trash bags. We dump our trash and recycling materials loose into the trash carts, then reuse the plastic bags over and over again.
Super insulation of home and office: Insulation is the smartest way to save on energy — and has the biggest return on investment (ROI). By hiring GB3 Energy to do an energy audit and install basement, crawl space and attic insulation as well as caulking windows, we have significantly reduced our heating and cooling costs.
Driving electric cars: I have driven nearly 200,000 miles on electricity in my Chevy Volt and Tesla cars. The lifetime MPG for the Volt (which has a range-extending gas engine) is over 200 mpg. Back in 2015 I drove my Tesla round-trip to Connecticut, and the only cost was the wear on my tires thanks to the free Supercharging. New Teslas don’t have unlimited free Supercharging — unless you’re referred by a current owner. Use my referral code to get a $1,000 discount and that free charging: http://ts.la/james6985.
Solatubes: The generic name for these alternatives to skylights is “sun tunnels.” (Solatube is a brand name; my favorite brand is Velux.) By installing Velux sun tunnels in our office and at home, we use less electricity for lighting — saving us more electricity to power our automobiles!
Published June 29, 2017,
in the Denver Post's YourHub section.
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