Improving your home's energy performance will save you anywhere from 20 to 80 percent on your monthly energy bill, according to Carol Roberts, founder of Pazzo di Terra.
The San Marcos-based sustainable building consulting firm is committed to creating energy efficient homes.
“Depending on when your house was built, the improvements will vary. For instance, if your home was built prior to 1978, chances are that it has no insulation, so the energy savings you will see here will be dramatic,” Roberts said. “By implementing efficiency improvements and reducing our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy use, we can reduce the need for more power plants and transmission lines and the depletion of our natural resources.”
Pazzo di Terra provides all of the tools needed to make your home or business more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The firm coordinates and oversees the construction process, encouraging homeowners, builders and architects to incorporate as many sustainable building steps as possible.
The company also offers certification and third party rating services for LEED for Homes and Build It Green, Green Point Rated. The Carlsbad Business Journal sat down with Roberts to talk about Pazzo di Terra and its work with homeowners, builders, developers and architects on projects ranging from remodels to small developments.
CBJ: When and why did you establish Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: I started the company in October of 2007. My background in investment real estate kept me in touch with the need that was out there for updating our existing housing inventory. It just didn't seem right that cost and time were the primary decision makers on how to fix a home for resale. I began seeking other options for building a better, greener home. This has been a remarkable journey, and continues to be a learning experience every day.
CBJ: What green practices do you incorporate into your life?
Roberts: The easy changes, like installing compact fluorescent bulbs, reducing my energy needs, duplex printing, planning and grouping my appointments so I can make one trip instead of two or three, not using plastic bags, changing to refillable containers and no bottled water or juices, have really changed my thinking and buying habits on all things. I find myself putting more things back on the shelf when I'm out shopping because I don't want to support improper or wasteful packaging, buying local instead of imported and supporting companies that have good environmental practices.
CBJ: What is Pazzo di Terra's mission?
Roberts: To create sustainable and energy efficient homes, and to help promote sustainable best practices in building, business and community.
CBJ: Who are some of your clients and what services have you provided for them?
Roberts: Our clients are homeowners looking to make improvements, homeowners and developers building new construction projects and clients seeking green building, third party certification. When working with a homeowner on their existing home, sometimes the projects are small and at the do-it-yourself level and other times they are a larger scope. We will actually do an energy model of their existing home and then calculate the different improvements, such as window replacement or added glazing, insulation changes, updated HVAC equipment, and even potential remodel changes. This gives the homeowner information as to how much a specific improvement will affect the energy use of their home. For new construction projects, we work together with the entire team from selecting the base structure of the building and mechanical systems all the way through to the interior finishes.
CBJ: What is unique about Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: We do not represent or promote any product line or service. We work with our clients to establish exactly what their needs are and their budget, timeline and goals. This determines our course of action. We help sift through all of the options available to find the ones that are best suited for their home. We work as a team with their architect, contractor and designer, or we can offer a list of experienced professionals to interview and choose from.
CBJ: What do you see for the future of Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: Seventy percent of the homes today will still be here 50 or more years from now. We will be purchasing them along the way and renovating them to be top of the line, efficient, sustainable homes. During construction, each will each be a teaching site where we will hold tours and people can see and experience specific improvements that they may be interested in making to their own homes. When completed, the homes will be sold and thus a sustainable home will have replaced an inefficient one without compromising our existing open spaces.
CBJ: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Roberts: I've talked a lot about energy efficiency, but there is much more in the picture of sustainable building. We need to let the site determine how we build or renovate. When we design and orient a home, utilizing all that the sun, wind and terrain have to offer us and complimenting that with sustainable building practices, materials from renewable or recycled resources, low or no volatile organic compounds in our paints and adhesives and implementing water reduction in our fixtures and our landscape design, we have dramatically reduced our impact on the environment. This brings us closer to fulfilling the definition of sustainable development, which is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Pazzo di Terra:
(760) 685-0225
www.pazzoditerra.com
The San Marcos-based sustainable building consulting firm is committed to creating energy efficient homes.
“Depending on when your house was built, the improvements will vary. For instance, if your home was built prior to 1978, chances are that it has no insulation, so the energy savings you will see here will be dramatic,” Roberts said. “By implementing efficiency improvements and reducing our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy use, we can reduce the need for more power plants and transmission lines and the depletion of our natural resources.”
Pazzo di Terra provides all of the tools needed to make your home or business more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The firm coordinates and oversees the construction process, encouraging homeowners, builders and architects to incorporate as many sustainable building steps as possible.
The company also offers certification and third party rating services for LEED for Homes and Build It Green, Green Point Rated. The Carlsbad Business Journal sat down with Roberts to talk about Pazzo di Terra and its work with homeowners, builders, developers and architects on projects ranging from remodels to small developments.
CBJ: When and why did you establish Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: I started the company in October of 2007. My background in investment real estate kept me in touch with the need that was out there for updating our existing housing inventory. It just didn't seem right that cost and time were the primary decision makers on how to fix a home for resale. I began seeking other options for building a better, greener home. This has been a remarkable journey, and continues to be a learning experience every day.
CBJ: What green practices do you incorporate into your life?
Roberts: The easy changes, like installing compact fluorescent bulbs, reducing my energy needs, duplex printing, planning and grouping my appointments so I can make one trip instead of two or three, not using plastic bags, changing to refillable containers and no bottled water or juices, have really changed my thinking and buying habits on all things. I find myself putting more things back on the shelf when I'm out shopping because I don't want to support improper or wasteful packaging, buying local instead of imported and supporting companies that have good environmental practices.
CBJ: What is Pazzo di Terra's mission?
Roberts: To create sustainable and energy efficient homes, and to help promote sustainable best practices in building, business and community.
CBJ: Who are some of your clients and what services have you provided for them?
Roberts: Our clients are homeowners looking to make improvements, homeowners and developers building new construction projects and clients seeking green building, third party certification. When working with a homeowner on their existing home, sometimes the projects are small and at the do-it-yourself level and other times they are a larger scope. We will actually do an energy model of their existing home and then calculate the different improvements, such as window replacement or added glazing, insulation changes, updated HVAC equipment, and even potential remodel changes. This gives the homeowner information as to how much a specific improvement will affect the energy use of their home. For new construction projects, we work together with the entire team from selecting the base structure of the building and mechanical systems all the way through to the interior finishes.
CBJ: What is unique about Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: We do not represent or promote any product line or service. We work with our clients to establish exactly what their needs are and their budget, timeline and goals. This determines our course of action. We help sift through all of the options available to find the ones that are best suited for their home. We work as a team with their architect, contractor and designer, or we can offer a list of experienced professionals to interview and choose from.
CBJ: What do you see for the future of Pazzo di Terra?
Roberts: Seventy percent of the homes today will still be here 50 or more years from now. We will be purchasing them along the way and renovating them to be top of the line, efficient, sustainable homes. During construction, each will each be a teaching site where we will hold tours and people can see and experience specific improvements that they may be interested in making to their own homes. When completed, the homes will be sold and thus a sustainable home will have replaced an inefficient one without compromising our existing open spaces.
CBJ: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Roberts: I've talked a lot about energy efficiency, but there is much more in the picture of sustainable building. We need to let the site determine how we build or renovate. When we design and orient a home, utilizing all that the sun, wind and terrain have to offer us and complimenting that with sustainable building practices, materials from renewable or recycled resources, low or no volatile organic compounds in our paints and adhesives and implementing water reduction in our fixtures and our landscape design, we have dramatically reduced our impact on the environment. This brings us closer to fulfilling the definition of sustainable development, which is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Pazzo di Terra:
(760) 685-0225
www.pazzoditerra.com