So, this evening I attended a discussion held by our friend, Blue Crump, of Cityspace Construction at the new Whole Foods in Short Pump. I’ve been wanting to catch one of his classes for some time now, and he did a great job teaching attendees about residential solar options to help offset energy consumption (and costs). His presentations are down-to-earth and make green construction and renovation concepts easy to understand. Blue offers free classes there and at Ellwood Thompson’s to share green ideas with homeowners throughout the Richmond area.

Feel free to visit the Cityspace website for more information on this business and their free educational classes.

I received an email today from the James River Green Building Council that referenced a recent article published July 18th on Richmond.com. It talks about the practicality of making our homes “green”, and whether or not it really is cost-effective. Many of the people I talk to feel like making their homes eco-friendly is unaffordable. Additionally, much of what we hear on the news talks about what’s happening in other parts of the country. What’s happening here in Virginia? This article references several local professionals who are working to make green buildings a reality for homes and business spaces alike.

For resources and supplies for making your home a healthier place to live, consider a visit to EcoLogic, a green home supply store that’s slated to open in mid-August on Main Street in the City of Richmond.

image source

Each month, we help secure sponsors for Richmond Green Drinks, an international organization that seeks to bring together people from the green industry once a month for a casual networking event. This month’s event drew around 70 people, our largest crowd to date, and was held at Richmond’s new Built Gallery in Oregon Hill.

One of the people who helps me organize Green Drinks, Copeland Casati, contributed a post about this month’s event on Building Green TV’s website. To see the post, click here.

If you’d like to learn more about Green Drinks, or want to meet someone in Richmond’s green building industry, feel free to contact us. We’re happy to help.

I was recently introduced to an organization that brings issues related to sustainability and eco-friendly living called Back Porch Initiatives. As you’ll see on their site, Back Porch is a non-profit organization working with communities to cultivate local responses to the national and global issue of energy consumption. The Back Porch team is committed to collaborating with communities on existing resources, leveraging new ideas, and developing practical, economical and environmental solutions.

Back Porch has extended an invitation for us to present during one of their weekly community conversations on Monday, July 21st, 2008. We’ll be speaking about healthy paint options available here in Richmond, and will also likely discuss the local green-building resources. We will be at Globehopper Coffeehouse at 2100 E. Main Street in Richmond’s historic Church Hill. This event is free and open to the public.

If you aren’t free to attend this coming Monday’s conversation, please know that Back Porch holds these talks every Monday evening from 7-8 pm at Globehopper.