Oregon Public Broadcasting

We haven’t had much good news to report lately about housing:  sales are down, so are prices.  And builders can’t get bank loans to put up new homes.  But there’s one part of housing construction market that’s doing well: “green” home remodeling.  Rob Manning reports on one homeowner's project in Northwest Portland.

Eric Strid: “Good morning!”
Rob Manning: “Good morning.”
Eric Strid: “Rob, Eric Strid, come on in.”

Eric Strid welcomes me at the door to show off improvements to his 20 year-old suburban home.

He’s got an ambitious goal: to make the place energy independent. That means insulating walls, replacing windows, changing out appliances, and ultimately generating a little energy on-site, so the house uses no electricity from the grid.

Jonathan Cohen, one of Strid's contractors, thinks it's a good bet.

Jonathan Cohen: “It’s a guaranteed win. Energy prices are guaranteed to rise on the long-term.”

Cohen is an engineer with Imagine Energy. He says this “net-zero” project is extreme - but he says more and more people are investing in efficiency. Cohen feels the bad economy is bringing him customers.

Jonathan Cohen: “In some ways, more than ever they’re saying, ‘hey - I can’t put my money in the stock market, confidently, and get any kind of return. I can’t sell my house, try to flip it, so I’m more concerned about putting that money into my property, so people want to make smart moves.”

To get an idea of energy efficiency perfection - you have to go places you’d usually ignore - like Strid's  crawlspace.

Stephen Aiguier: “I think this was the lowest-hanging fruit in the entire process.”

Stephen Aiguier runs Green Hammer - the general contractor that insulated the empty pockets of the home.

Stephen Aiguier: “If they weren’t going to do anything else to help their energy efficiency, probably spraying this crawlspace and the duct work system down here was probably the best bang for the buck in the entire process.”

Both of Strid’s contractors say more people are interested in green remodels.

But projects have smaller budgets than a year ago. Often they move more slowly. And that’s even the case for determined folks like Eric Strid. 

He shows me on the southern side of the house, mounts on the wood siding, where solar panels will go -- when he can afford them.

Eric Strid: “It’s economic reality partly, here, but we’ll get through it.”

Strid is committed to the solar panels. They would generate extra enough juice to power his next big investment - an all-electric car.