GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic When Cathy Goshorn and her husband remodeled their Yakima home they used environmentally friendly products. Fifteen colors of environmentally friendly paint, including raspberry truffle, were used along with Marmoleum kitchen flooring. SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic From left, Chris Miller, Carlos Trujillo and Cruz Pacheco loop plastic piping inside a trench as they set up a geothermal heating unit on a new home on May 2. The system, which also uses a traditional forced air system within the home, works on the principle that ground temperature stays fairly constant throughout the year.
Cathy Goshorn buys biodegradable cleaning supplies. She uses cloth bags when she shops, and she shares a compost bin with her neighbor.
Her quest to protect the environment also influenced how she remodeled her home in Yakima a year ago. She used recycled and natural products wherever possible -- by installing Marmoleum kitchen floors and keeping the home's original doorknobs. She also painted the house's interior with 15 colors of environmentally friendly paint.
The project took about three months, but when it was completed, her 78-year-old house near Franklin Park got the green makeover she wanted.
"One of the most important things to me about being green is restoration," said Goshorn, who moved here from Northern California with her husband. "We need to be friendly with our environment. ... Once people understand it and are educated about it, they'll see the need for it."
Goshorn is a part of a small yet growing number of Yakima County residents invested in the green housing movement, said Brice Baxter, owner of Baxter Construction in Yakima.
People like Goshorn -- his client -- are interested in recycling and energy conservation, while the extremists will spend big bucks for the sole purpose of protecting the environment, he said. In his experience, one out of every 20 customers fall into this latter category.
"Those are the customers who will walk to the store two blocks away to buy a bag of groceries instead of driving," Baxter said.
Baxter has worked in construction for two decades and has owned Baxter Construction for 13 years. While the green concept is sweeping across the nation, he said it's making a smaller splash in Yakima County.
One of the deterrents is cost. A gallon of environmentally friendly paint will cost $50, twice as much as a regular gallon, he said. Solar heating and greywater systems -- which reuse water for landscape irrigation -- are also pricey. So far, Baxter hasn't had any clients who've demanded these luxuries.
"You do what you can afford to do," he said. "To be extremely green is extremely expensive."
Still, those who are willing to pay more now can see huge returns later. A good example is buying a geothermal heating and cooling system. Resembling a huge underground swimming pool, it heats and cools a building by tapping into the earth's constant temperature of about 55 degrees.
It works the same way a standard heat pump system, minus the expense. Paul Smith, general manager of AIR f/x Heating & Air Conditioning in Yakima, said the system can cost $10,000 more than other types of heating and cooling units. But it saves an average homeowner 35 to 40 percent in energy usage -- meaning customers can recoup their investment in about 14 years, he said.
"Don't put it in if you are flipping your house," he said, adding that interest in the system increases as energy costs rise. "Everyone is now willing to spend a little bit more to be a little bit better."
Dean Schlenker, director of business and operations for the Highland School District, counts himself as one satisfied customer. About two years ago, district officials began reviewing their options for buying a new heating/cooling system for Marcus Whitman Cowiche Elementary School.
After crunching numbers -- and gaining the necessary funding -- the district spent about $700,000 on a geothermal unit for the 46,000-square-foot building. The school used to consume about 21,000 gallons of heating oil a month, and now it doesn't use any, Schlenker said.
On top of that, the average heating bill has decreased from $6,900 to $2,139 a month, and the system has a 25-year life expectancy.
"It's saved us a ton of money," he said. "For us, it's very economical. I'm an avid fan of geothermal. It's a green product, but its payback is phenomenal."
Other ways people can go green is by using natural products when constructing or remodeling their homes -- like granite countertops and bamboo or cork floors. They can reuse old cabinets and doors, and they can buy tiles made out of recycled glass. They can also purchase Energy Star products, which are more efficient, Smith said.
"The beautiful thing about the green concept is the greener you get, the less it costs to operate," said Smith, who's been in the heating and cooling business for more than two decades. "The more green we get as a community, the less energy we use."
Customers invested in the green movement tend to be smart, educated and forward-thinking, Baxter said. In his experience, they are people who already know what products and brands they want to use by the time a contractor arrives.
He and Smith agree that when green products become more affordable and commonplace -- and when energy costs continue to climb -- the green lifestyle will become more prevalent in Yakima County.
"It's tough to be a trailblazer," Smith said. "It's a movement toward rethinking the way you build."
Justin Wolff, owner and operator of New Creation Construction in Yakima, is even more confident in the future of the green movement. Specializing in custom homes, he's seen demand increase noticeably for green products in the past five years.
With energy costs on the rise, he predicts the popularity of solar power will soon skyrocket. Yakima Valley may not have many green lovers now, he said, but that's about to change.
"The whole construction industry is being transformed by renewable resources and renewable products," he said. "The scale is going to go the other way in the next five years. It's moderate now, but it will go built green here very quickly."
Easy ways to become more earth-friendly
* Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
* Buy energy-efficient appliances.
* Run the dishwasher only when it's full.
* Install a low-flow shower head and take shorter showers.
* Wash clothes only when there's a full load.
* Check heating and cooling units every two years.
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