Work in Redmond, WA at Microsoft? “Come on and Take a Free Ride” ( Edgar Winters Group). Every time I turned a corner last week there was a Microsoft Connector vehicle whizzing by. I’ve been over by Microsoft’s Redwest and main campus off 156th Ave NE in Redmond meeting with some buyers and sellers from the neighborhoods around the Redmond campuses a lot lately. There seems to be a Connector vehicle on every corner.
The Connector Service has vehicles of all sizes, from eco-friendly Priuses
to shuttle buses
to standard sized buses. The system was started last fall, in September to be exact, and Microsoft announced just last month that the Connector service is expanding.
As someone who doesn’t work at Microsoft, but who works in the neighborhoods all around Microsoft, I personally am thrilled to see the service. For years, I’ve had to schedule appointments in Redmond around the major “Microsoft commuting” times. I knew to steer clear of the campuses around 9:30 to 9:45 every morning. Traffic was brutal.
When I first moved to Redmond in 1986, Microsoft had just moved over to what is their main campus, with 10 buildings, and had just gone public. There was no overpass at NE 40th, something many of you probably still remember, since it has not been there all that long. But I doubt many of you remember the time before an overpass existed at NE 51st. Seems like there’s been an overpass at NE 51st forever, but not so. When I first moved to Redmond, NE 51st crossed highway 520, at a traffic light! I moved into my first house in the area in August of 1986 and shortly thereafter, the NE 51st overpass was constructed. By the way, how many of you remember when there was a stop light at Redmond Way and 520?
Kudos to Microsoft for cutting down on traffic and the carbon foot-print of its employees and the company.
From Microsoft Environment’s web page:
“Private Bus System (”Connector”). To improve commuting opportunities and to reduce environmental impact of commuting, Microsoft has created and manages its own transportation bus system. For campus commuters who found public transportation wasn’t satisfying their needs, Microsoft invested in the creation of one of the world’s largest private bus systems. Employees can use the Connector, a free express bus service during morning and evening commute times between residential neighborhoods and the Redmond campus. With this system, Microsoft aims to reduce car traffic in the area by over 250,000 miles per week.”
“A survey of riders on the Microsoft bus service, Connector, in November 2007 showed that 61 percent of passengers previously used a single occupancy vehicle for their commuting needs, which suggests that the Connector program results in a reduction of about 800 vehicle trips and 32,200 miles of travel each day.”
Turning Green, Sustainable Living, and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
February 19, 2008
A green lifestyle in our daily life is something we should all embrace. Everyone one of us needs to think about sustainable energy, conservation, and reducing carbon footprints. We can all adapt our day to day living in some very simple, inexpensive ways.
I recently attended a built green class at Windermere Real Estate because I wanted to learn more about built green techniques. Sustainable materials and energy conservation are all hot buttons in today’s real estate, but many people will not be remodeling or building in the near future. However, there are things we can do on a daily basis to help conserve energy. I wrote about some basic energy conservation techniques on my eastside real estate buzz blog. Take a look and even if you do just one of the things listed, you can make a difference.
Stay tuned for more articles about built green resources.
Talk about building green! This website tracks all kinds of information regarding building green homes. The link below talks about a home designed with solar and spinach power! Check it out, it is pretty interesting.
At my monthly networking meeting, Forum XXII, we heard from the Seattle Master Builder’s Association about the Built Green program.
http://www.builtgreen.net/index.html
The website had a lot of terrific information about sources for “built green” materials, architects, builders, remodelers, and building standards. “Built green” is our new real estate buzzword. There is a growing emphasis on environmentally friendly building and the use of sustainable materials.
Our listings in the Multiple Listing Service will soon be able to reflect the “built green” status of a home. If a home is listed as “built green”, the builders will have had to follow certain standards to achieve this status. “Built green” homes can range from a 2 star to a 5 star level. If a home is built to the 4 or 5 star standard, which has stringent requirements, all of the construction and materials must be independently verified. Certificates are issued to homes that meet these standards. In the future, home buyers will be able to search on line for “built green” homes.
Of the 10,000 new construction homes built in King County last year, only 15-18 were certified as the star 5 “built green” homes, the most stringent level of “built green” homes. Most of these homes were built by a builder in Seattle, Michele Rose.
Most homes categorized as “built green” are built to the 3 star level. Quite a few homes in Issaquah Highlands meet this standard. The Dwelling Company built a number of “built green” homes in the Highlands.
Some of the other builders mentioned who have built some “green” homes were Bennett Homes, www.bennetthomes.com. Bennett Homes is known for “built green” homes in Suncadia, on the other side of the Cascades. Other local builders range from some of the larger builders, such as Camwest, www.camwest.com and Chaffey Homes, www.chaffeyhomes.com, to high end custom builders such as Bender Chaffey, www.benderchaffey.com.
Some thoughts about building green:
Materials can be somewhat more expensive for “built green” homes, however, the cost savings for energy efficiency usually more than compensates for the initial building cost. Check out this website on federal tax credits for energy conservation:
Other thoughts:
If you start from the get-go when building a home, it is far cheaper to build green than to start doing some add-ons.
Hardwood floors and other hard surfaces, such as tile. stay cleaner than carpet. It was recommended that main living area be finished with hard surfaces because many people wear shoes throughout their home. Shoes bring in all kinds of contaminents.
Ventilation has become so tight the air in homes can become stale and is not fresh.
The gasses from glues used during standard construction can be emitted for up to 30 years after construction.
These thoughts sure make one want to think of a healthy “built green” home!
Let’s All Lose a Little Weight and Celebrate Earth Day!
April 22, 2007
As everyone knows, tomorrow, the 22nd of April, is Earth Day. It seems as if for a lot of years people ignored Earth Day. I remember it being quite a big deal when Earth Day began in the 1970’s. Now there is a renewed interest and awareness which seems to have begun with Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. The awarenenss level with global warming, pollution, etc. has increased dramatically.
I came across this website called http://www.41pounds.org. Apparently, the average junk mail we each receive every year comes out to 41 pounds. Imagine the amount of waste that is created! Even if the junk mail is recycled, there is energy used to create the paper, print the mailings, send the mail, and to recycle this junk.
So if 100 of us contact this website and asked to be removed from “junk” mail lists, we could potentially save 4100 lbs of mail! Over two tons of junk!
Anyone up to the challenge?
West Redmond Real Estate Buzz
