You don’t want to miss this Sunday’s episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

You might remember my behind-the-scenes look at Extreme Makeover in Washington, DC last year. Airing on Valentine’s Day, this episode will feature not one, but two remodel projects. And if you’ve seen the show before, you know these remodels are over the course of just seven days. Quite a feat.

Our client, Serious Materials, donated their windows to both projects. What makes these remodels special is that both were built to be as near to net zero energy buildings as possible, meaning near zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually. The products included to make this happen were SIPs panels provided by Winter Panel, solar electric systems from Aurora Energy, insulated concrete foundation forms from Leep Green, and super-insulating high R-value windows from SeriousWindows.

It’s interesting to see a mainstream, primetime show like Extreme Makeover put the focus on energy-efficiency. Not surprising, though. As we saw at Greenbuild late last year, greenwashing is going out of style. Builders and consumers alike are looking for the most eco-friendly, energy-efficient products out there protect our environment and make buildings as sustainable as possible.

So tune in to ABC this Sunday at 9/8 Central for an episode that will leave you reaching for the hammer and ready to start tackling those home improvement projects. (Oh, and Tyler Perry makes an appearance!)

Well, we made it! We’re in Phoenix for Greenbuild 2009, and we’ve already seen some exciting new companies and products on the show floor. Plus we shot some great videos for our clients, CALMAC and IES. Here is a video of our first day at the show:

We’ve got two days packed full of meetings and additional video shoots with Serious Materials and YKK AP, and somewhere in there we will head over to see Al Gore deliver the Keynote and Opening Celebration tomorrow night with Sheryl Crow. (And just in case you aren’t here in AZ, you can check out live streams on Greenbuild’s website.)

We are looking forward to meeting green building professionals sharing their visions for the future of the industry, as well as the editors and bloggers who write about it along the way. Melissa Hincha-Ownby of Mother Nature Network has already blogged about the event. Lloyd Alter of Treehugger is here, too. Along with 24,000 registered attendees, according to the records when the show floor opened at 5:30 this evening.

Check back here daily for a round-up of news and views from the show. Next week, we will do a show wrap up. And we’ll be Tweeting live from #Greenbuild09 the rest of the week – follow @catrionaharris, @mariegoltara and @toryk for your green building fix this week.

Last week, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Washington, DC. This particular episode of Extreme Makeover featured the remodeling of both a house and a community center/school. I got an all-access, behind-the-scenes pass, thanks to a VIP invite from my client, Serious Materials. Its super-insulating SeriousWindows were selected for use in both projects.

Extreme Makeover’s energy goals for these two projects – a near net-zero home and community center – will provide both the Tripp family and The Fishing School with efficient homes and lower bills. With input and guidance from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a DOE Laboratory, each project was designed with advanced energy-efficient materials and serve as examples for cost-effective near net-zero energy building design.

It was great to see so many people volunteering for an amazing family and an amazing organization right in my backyard. And to see that sustainable design was at the forefront of the project really showed me that green building isn’t just a buzzword; it’s here to stay. One of our friends, Tara Taffera of Door & Window Manufacturer Magazine joined us on-site on Tuesday. You can read her thoughts here. We also met up with Lee Patrick Sullivan of Clean Skies News. Robin Roy, VP of Projects & Policy of Serious Materials, discussed the super-efficient windows with Patrick outside the house on Tuesday.

Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu visited the site of The Fishing School to see the progress of the projects designed with guidance from Chu and his team at the DOE, which will ultimately serve as examples of near net-zero energy buildings.

And while I didn’t meet Ty Pennington, I did meet Paul Dimeo! All in all, a good week!

Earth Day has come and gone, but at Vantage we definitely made the most of the special day. In fact, we started celebrating a week early and how else, but with a party! Actually, 2 parties in 2 cities. On Thursday, April 16 we brought together about 200 business, government and media folks for the Vantage Communications Bi-coastal Earth Day event. Offices in both San Francisco and Orlando celebrated Earth Day with networking, food and giveaways – with all proceeds benefiting the United States Green Building Council.

In San Francisco, at a special one night opening of the Autodesk Gallery, Vantage gathered with influential green individuals to network and share insights. The evening also featured a panel with speakers from the USGBC-NCC, San Francisco’s Green Building, Forbes Magazine, Autodesk, and Serious Materials who discussed “Sustainable Innovation in a Recession.” In case you missed the live streaming of the event, you can watch it here:

Vantage Communications Earth Day Panel

The Orlando green community gathered at the local Taste Restaurant, where a good time was had by all with drinks, savory appetizers and giveaways from local businesses and green companies. An evening of networking included guests from the local USGBC, Green Cities and CoLab Orlando.

For all who joined us, we hope the evening was as fun and meaningful for you as it was for us in making it happen. You also can see photos from the evening here.

Did you know that if you drink one beer after work, then throw it in the recycling bin – that one aluminum can saves enough energy to watch television for three hours? It is amazing how much of a difference we can make together if each person began cleaning up their environmental habits. With Earth Day just around the corner, the Vantage Team is celebrating the changes we’ve made to help Mother Earth, and hosting bi-coastal networking events tomorrow to do so.

Both the San Francisco event – sponsored by Autodesk – and the Orlando event will feature giveaways and collect voluntary donations to benefit the Northern California and Central Florida chapters of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), respectively.

The San Francisco event will also feature a speaker panel discussing “Sustainable Innovation in a Recession,” with panelists from the USGBC-NCC, San Francisco’s Green Building Program, Forbes Magazine, Autodesk, and Serious Materials.In case you can’t make it, the panel will be streamed live right here on this blog starting at approximately7:00 pm Pacific/10:00 pm Eastern – so check back! Please tell your friends and use the buttons below to share and tweet.

So whether you’re on the East Coast or West Coast, we hope you can join us! For full details, or to RSVP, check out the following links –

San Francisco

http://earthdaysanfrancisco.eventbrite.com/

Orlando

http://earthdayorlando.eventbrite.com/

There is no way around it.   This is more than likely the worst economic climate you have lived through.   But Monday, I was inspired by a small Pennsylvania town that gave me great hope for green jobs and what it can do for America.

I was with our client, Serious Materials, and Governor Edward Rendell in a suburb of Pittsburgh – Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.   We were there to re-open a windows plant that had been closed by its previous owners and where the workers have been hired back to begin producing energy-efficient windows.

I’m not here to plug my client.   What I am here to do is to share with you the way the economy has hit in American towns across the nation, and how their spirit and determination to make a change is a great lesson for us all.   I have been working on this event for weeks and have been taken aback by the stories I’ve heard.   But as I was driving in from Pittsburgh it really hit home.

The thing that really struck me was when one of the rehired employees, Robin Scott, took the podium and talked about the green movement.  He said, “This is more than just a job to me.  It’s also doing our small part in this tiny corner of America to move this country forward, I’m not a Treehugger by any means, but even I know we have to change.  We can’t leave the world the way it is now.  So if we can get this green movement going here in Vandergrift, then that is what I wanna see!”

It doesn’t matter how or why these people became a part of the green movement, the only thing that matters is that they now embrace it.  Being green is no longer a California thing or a hippie thing, it is just the right thing to do for ourselves and the many generations that will follow us.

There has been some debate over the effectiveness of green jobs. But I’ve seen first hand the difference and the positive influence green jobs can have on our country,  on our small towns and on our environment.  Ultimately, I was inspired by the people and their drive to make a positive change. The people in Vandergrift have given me a gift – the gift of perspective.   One I will take with me for the rest of my life.

If you were watching the State of the Union last night, you no doubt heard President Obama’s strong message of America leading the development of cleantech. He encouraged America to “lead again” – meaning we should keep clean jobs here in America and not ship them outside of our borders. He said we will put “Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills.”

Green building in particular is thriving in America right now. Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media said it best yesterday, “For green building companies, the good times have just begun.”  Everyday there are announcements of new products, new customers and yes, even new green collar jobs. A press release came across my desk this morning, with the headline “Green Building is the Economy’s Bright Spot.”  One of our clients, Serious Materials recently announced the creation of green jobs.  If you work solely in green building, it may even be hard to admit there is a major recession going on right now.

Green jobs aren’t the only things that can change our economic challenges. The economic stimulus bill that passed last week will play a large role in saving energy and money for Americans. As part of the plan, you and I can get tax breaks for installing energy efficient windows, doors and appliances.  If there was ever a time for upgrades, now is that time.

I for one was encouraged by the President last night, especially when he spoke about how “now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.”  Part of that new foundation includes  investment in green energy and building. It is a great feeling to hear the promise of energy-efficiency and savings making an impact on the mainstream society. It’s true, there is hope.

Most people assume green building is expensive. An interesting post about a recent study published by Good Energies, a global energy efficiency and renewable energy investment company, shows some surprising conclusions about green building costs:

The built environment has a profound impact on the economy and the earth. If you haven’t checked out the website of our client, Serious Materials lately, click on over for some interesting facts on the built environment: 

“The ‘built environment’ is responsible for 52% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide – which compares to only 9% for cars and light trucks. We can slash that number by re-engineering common products that use or lose the most energy. And local plants will create thousands of green-collar jobs here in the U.S., further reducing carbon footprints.”

With the economic outlook for 2009 looking just as gloomy as the latter part of 2008, it does seem like a lousy time to be touting construction and the like.  But while some industries may be looking for a bailout, green building is on the rise. And that’s not just good for the environment. It makes economic sense too.