A New Green Remodeling Store has opened in San Francisco. Ecohaus has opened at 9th & Bryant. They sell green building materials and can brainstorm with you on your new remodeling projects. They also have stores in Seattle and Portland. It is always good to have a new resource and local supply place for green products. They even carry Hard to find Osmo Polyx-Oil.

“Our space features sustainable building materials in its displays and offices, including FSC Certified PureBond plywood, 100% wool carpets, and PaperStone countertops. We’re even reusing display fixtures from a previous showroom to reduce our material use!”

The city of San Francisco recently started GreenFinanceSF, a financing program that helps to pay for water savings, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects that you might not have been able to afford.  The repayment obligation is attached to the property, rather than the individual, and is paid back through property taxes over the life of the financing. The maximum payback is 20 years. this program applies to residential and commercial property owners.

Eligible projects include home energy audits, upgrading heating systems, upgrading water heaters, installing solar hot water, installing solar electric panels, and conserving hot water. The city wants people to get home energy audits before doing any work, so you see all the options. The program has an online application and application processing fee of $300. FAQ 800-803-6930 is their phone number.

If you sell the property before everything is paid back, whoever buys the property will make the rest of payments over time through their property tax bill.

This program was funded in part Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The City and County of San Francisco received direct funding through the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program that was used to establish the framework of GreenFinanceSF.