By Kathy Gottberg (5/7/10)

            The Spring Meeting for the US Green Building Council (USGBC) local Coachella Valley Branch Meeting was a great example of the importance and power of such a group here in the desert.   Held quarterly, the USGBC meets to discuss current trends in green building, to introduce the latest in green services and products, and to regularly bring together leaders and practitioners in energy efficiency design and sustainable building.

          Held April 28, 2010 at the Desert Willows Golf Resort in Palm Desert, over 50 professionals met to share common concerns and best practices.  And while these quarterly meetings are considered membership in nature, non-members are welcome to attend as guests and share fully in the benefits of the meeting.

            Two speakers from varied perspectives made up the evening program.  To begin with, Richard Morgensen, General Manager of Desert Willow Golf Resort (DWGR) explained current management’s (KemperSports) commitment to sustainability.  Entitled, “Green to A Tee, “ Morgensen explained that for the last year they have been working to green DWGR and are currently up to the Second Level on a Four Level mandate outlined by the program.  Current green practices for the resort include using golf course irrigation from 80% gray water, heavy implementation of recycling, reduced energy consumption, Habitat Management for local birds and animals, water conservation and environmentally sound golf course maintenance and landscaping.  While they presently only reach compliance on about half of the entire plan, Morgensen said that they have every intention to maximize the entire Green To A Tee program at Desert Willows sometime in the future.

            The highlight of the evening was speaker Ted Reiff of The ReUse People (TRP).  TRP was founded in 1995 as a national program that promotes the idea of deconstruction and reuse, rather than demolition and waste to the landfill.   Reiff explained that in contrast to mere building recycling, the process of deconstruction attempts to dismantle buildings in such a way that the optimum amount of materials can be salvaged and used again. or in other ways.   There is a difference between recycling and reusing.  Recycling reprocesses something and creates a new use.  Reusing something is to use the same thing in another context.  A key element to TRP is saving the embodied energy in existing products.

            Why go to all the trouble?  A huge benefit is saving landfill waste—not to mention the time, energy and resources it takes to completely rebuild a replacement  (Reiff calls this embodied energy).  It also provides green jobs by teaching young and unemployed people how to carefully deconstruct items so they can be reused.  Finally, it improves the standard of living for a certain population that may not be able to afford items unless they are inexpensive.  Much of the TPR building materials go into low income housing for disaster relief and projects like Habitat For Humanity.

             How much waste is actually diverted?  According to Reiff, the average size house is 2,000 sq. ft. and weighs about 80 tons. With around 250,000 single family homes being demolished around the country every year, that means that approximately 20,000,000 tons of materials routinely end up in landfills.  The TRP process, along with traditional concrete recycling, helps to divert about 90 to 95% of that waste from landfills—or, rather than 80 tons, only 5 to 10 tons per SFR ends up at the dump.  This is a huge savings.

            The good news is that just about everything can be salvaged and reused in the process.  Unfortunately, one of the downsides is it typically takes more time to carefully remove everything rather than just bulldoze it all down.  However, a beneficial offset to the time disadvantage is that those who utilize TRP qualify for a tax-deductible donation for the building materials.  That’s right.  TRP will provide a list to be used by the person donating the materials so that they can use it to offset taxes.  And while they still have to pay for the deconstruction just like they would pay for any demolition, the donation aspects typically offset the majority of additional costs of deconstruction.  If the donation amount is valued at less than $5,000 the owner may self appraise the donation.  If the donation amount is over $5,000, then an independent IRS qualified appraiser must be used in order to capture the tax benefit.

            TRP presently operate a warehouse facility in San Diego but they hope to begin accepting projects here in the Coachella Valley.  Most general contractors are negative about the process until one of the decision makers insists on looking for a “greener” alternative to the process.  Then once a contractor goes through the experience, they usually begin to recommend TRP to all their clients. 

            Home remodeling and demolition are happening here in our Coachella Valley every day.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Up until now, the vast majority of construction waste ends up in our landfills.  With the TRP option, much of that can not only be diverted, the products can instead be put to use in housing for people, like Habitat for Humanity homes, where it can be enjoyed and reused for many years to come.  Isn’t that the best solution possible?  For more information about how your remodel can participate, go to thereusepeople.org or contact Cheryl Sharp regional manager at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .