Green Real Estate Search and Ratings: GreenHomeFinder.com

The growing percentage of buyers and renters looking for sustainable real estate, to date, have only been served by generalized listing sites like Craigslist and local online classifieds. Now, GreenHomeFinder.com provides a “one stop shop” for a new niche – listing and rating the green features of properties online.

With databases set up to provide prospective renters and buyers with links to everything from the prospective neighborhood’s bamboo flooring contractors to the eco-friendly dry cleaners, Greenhomefinder.com is poised become the most comprehensive green property search engine in the United States. Property owners and managers who take advantage of this opportunity can now get properties listed at no cost for the next year and listing packages, products packages, services packages and advertising space is available for various reasonable fees.  Owners and property managers wanting more exposure can also purchase a “Branded Listings” package that enables the lister to add more photos  and information.

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Clean Coal is an Expensive Myth

If last week’s VP debate was any indication, Senator Biden and Governor Palin didn’t get the memo on “clean coal”.  It reads something like this:  ”Coal cannot be effectively cleaned, we should invest our limited government funds (see: Bailout) in energy solutions that are environmentally safe today.”

Clean coal technology is also VERY expensive, and will have rising variable costs over time (transportation of fuel, miners’ wages, maintenance of complex cleaning systems, etc).  Compare to solar and wind energy sources, which have fewer incremental costs once built.  How much does the transportation of sun and wind cost?  ZERO!
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Greenwashing: Buyer Beware of Wet Paint

Ahhh, the new age of eco-consciousness.  We now have a massive segment of the consumer population with a hunger for organic food, recycled packaging, energy-efficiency, clean air and water–anything that we think will make a difference.

And there’s a flood of green product marketing following the crowd. Companies continue to launch populist advertising and green product labels that are often, at best, misleading.

So how much of this eco-friendly marketing is simply greenwashing, and how do we recognize it?  Who can we trust to regulate ads, packaging, and the truth?
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