by Jeff Feldman

The Eastern Panhandle was flush with green events last month in honor of the 40th Earth Day. Films, lectures, and festivals brought crowds to parks, town centers, and community gathering spots throughout the area, all in recognition and celebration of the relationship we have with our planet. If you somehow missed out, or simply didn’t get your fill of such events, there are more opportunities to come: Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22 bring us the second annual Building for a Greener Future Conference and Eastern Panhandle Green Homes Tour.

The Building for a Greener Future Conference was a wonderful success last year, drawing together over 100 builders, architects, local officials, and interested residents for an exploration of green building practices, technologies, and products. This year’s gathering promises more of the same. The conference takes place Friday, May 21 at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) outside of Shepherdstown. Conference workshops will include sessions on green building approaches, renewable energy systems and incentives, geothermal technology, indoor air quality considerations, alternative wastewater treatment options, and living roofs among others. Exhibitors of green building products and services will also be in attendance.

Rich Parker, a Jefferson County resident, participated in last year’s green gathering. “The Green Building Conference really woke me up to the high cost of conventional heating and cooling. We’ve since installed a complete geothermal heating/cooling/water heating system that will save us money for years to come. The tax rebate helped pay for the system. I chuckle every time the propane truck drives by en route to a neighbor’s house. GOING GREEN puts green back in my pockets!”

The Building for a Greener Future Conference is sponsored by Potomac Headwaters Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D). The event is open to the public, though registration is required. For more information on the event or to register to attend, contact Olga Adams at RC&D, 304-267-8953 ext. 5, or via email at phrcd.6003@verizon.net.

As a warm-up event to the green building conference, a free public screening of the film Scraphouse will take place in the NCTC auditorium beginning at 7:15 PM Thursday, May 20. The film documents how a team of architects, builders, engineers, and artists came together to build a house entirely out of actual trash plucked straight from the waste stream. Apparently you need to see it to believe it.

The Eastern Panhandle Green Homes Tour, held in partnership with the green building conference, is scheduled for Saturday, May 22. Sponsored by Potomac Valley Audubon (PVAS), the tour offers an opportunity for people interested in or simply curious about green building to gain some firsthand experience with green approaches and technologies implemented in homes throughout the area.

This year’s Green Homes Tour will feature seven green homes in Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties showcasing a range of environmentally considerate residential building approaches. Participants on the tour will experience strawbale, structural insulated panel, and cordwood construction; renewable energy technologies including solar electric, wind and solar hot water systems; composting toilets and graywater wetland treatment designs; high efficiency wood-burning heaters and in-floor radiant heat systems; along with a host of other green building materials and design considerations. Several of the homes are still under construction, offering a rare glimpse inside the process of green building.

Green Homes Tour brochures, provided by Sir Speedy Printing of Martinsburg, are available for $15 at several locations around the Panhandle (see below). Brochures provide an overview of the green homes along with directions to each, and serve as a ticket to the event, admitting one carload of people to all homes. Brochure holders may visit any or all of the homes, in any order they wish, between 10am and 4pm.

Tour brochures will be available starting Monday, May 3 at the following locations:

• · DISH American Bistro, 213 W. Washington Street, Charles Town
• · Four Seasons Books, 116 W. German Street, Shepherdstown
• · Sir Speedy Printing, 1351 Edwin Miller Blvd, Martinsburg (in Courthouse Square by the Post Office)
• · The Nature Niche, 50 Washington Street, Berkeley Springs

Proceeds from the Green Homes Tour support PVAS environmental education programs with area school children.

For more information about the Eastern Panhandle Green Homes Tour, contact me at the email address below.

Jeff Feldman runs GreenPath Consulting, a green building consulting firm. Jeff and his wife, Kristin Alexander, live in a strawbale home in Berkeley County. You can reach Jeff at GreenPathConsulting@gmail.com.