Princeton’s green home tour a success

Anne Waldron Neumann, Princeton Environmental Commission
Green home tour
was a success
To the editor
    I’d like to thank all the visitors and exhibitors who made the Princeton Environmental Commission’s second Green Home and Garden Tour so successful last Saturday.
   The tour’s exhibitors included architect Ronald Berlin who, with Construction Waste Management and Franzoni Building, contributed a sustainable renovation that added 1,000 sq ft living space to a one-story ranch house while adding just 60 sq ft more impervious surface. Curtis Helm showed a raingarden he installed at the Princeton Senior Resource Center with plants donated by Pinelands Nursery.
   Architect Leslie Dowling, a US Green Building Council member, demonstrated how to take advantage of an older home’s central location while turning it into a beautiful and sustainable home. Barbara Cuneo of Herrontown Builders offered tour-goers an example of healthful and energy-efficient new construction.
   Lasley Brahaney Architecture + Construction guided visitors through its newly renovated, LEED-compliant office. Richard McCoy of R. A. McCoy Horticultural Services demonstrated proper tree planting and mulching and how to manage a lawn organically, thereby making it safe for children to play on. Gary Eschenburg, of Ground Source Contractors, explained one of several geothermal wells he has installed in Princeton.
   Princeton’s Whole Earth Center began the day by offering morning coffee to visitors who came to see its green cleaning materials and local produce. And Eno Terra, a Certified Green Restaurant, ended the afternoon with a wine tasting.
   The success of a tour like this lies not only in how many visitors it attracts and informs, however —nor in how much business it may bring local exhibitors. Last year’s tour inspired Hopewell Township’s Environmental Commission to offer its first Greener Living tour this year in conjunction with Princeton’s. Gary Eschenburg, whose Ground Source Contractors is headquartered in Pennsylvania, is considering a similar tour next year in his own area. And, at a recent conference, where the 2007 tour received a New Jersey Environmental Achievement Award, at least 20 other municipalities took information on how to organize green tours.
   Imitation is the sincerest form of responding to America’s increased interest in environmental protection.
Anne Waldron Neumann,
member
Princeton Environmental
Commission