Alex (and Natasha!) prepared an awesome presentation... including the findings of his research into solar, wind and geo-thermal energy systems.... it was the beginning of realizing that every decision is a trade-off... and that it isnt always cost-effective to be green!!   Some of our decisions included 

 - Solar panels make no economic sense for our project (structure too small/costs too expensive - over 23K)

 - Large wind turbine too expensive but we will install a rooftop wind system (approx 7K) to get some benefits... 

- Geo-thermal makes alot of sense but again, isn't the cheapest approach... we will install a vertical system  (approx 7K) 

- Also, an expense we had hoped to avoid was replacing all the single pane large picture windows but the first rule of green building seems to be to ensure efficient windows and avoiding unnecessary  heat/cold air loss..... so, looks like we are replacing them with low-e highly efficient glass panels... hello 10K 

Also, based on Alex's pricing, we will make some changes to the plans to try to reduce building costs such as:

- simplifying roof stucture, putting the mechanicals in the crawl space instead of roof area (save approx 15K?)

- simplifying garage renovation plans - 35K to renovate a basic garage... NO WAY!! 

The tax incentives are getting much better as far as tax breaks for using some of these technologies.... many have lifted any "limits" for installation in 2009 and beyond

but we want this $300K renovation to come down alot closer to 250K...back to work