Dallas’ Leaders in the Green Revolution
Meet the developers, business owners, city officials, and good citizens who are creating a sustainable city. For them, green is not just a marketing plan. It’s a way of life.
ZAD ROUMAYA
Co-developer, The Buzz
Zad Roumaya doesn’t want you to stand on the balcony of one of his condos, overlooking downtown and a DART rail station, and say you don’t feel like you’re in Dallas.
You don’t, of course. But in Roumaya’s vision of our fair city, The Buzz—Dallas’ first green condo—is a sign of things to come.
“My thought was, How do you take something that was doing nothing for the neighborhood, the street, the community, the earth, and develop it just like a piece of art?” says Roumaya, who, with co-developer Will Pinkerton, took a plot of dirt and created sustainable, affordable housing, ranging from $170,000 to $214,000.
The building features a solar reflective roof system, a rainwater-capture system, bamboo flooring, and recycled glass countertops. The elevators and breezeways aren’t air-conditioned. There is no storage outside your condo. (This is cold-turkey downsizing.) Instead, you get $50 to $70 electric bills, your own eGO electric moped, and memberships to the DMA and the Nasher Sculpture Center.
Roumaya calls his condo owners the “spark people”—those who take their green ideas to the masses. Two Buzz residents don’t own cars, and four ride their scooters to work.
“We want green to go mainstream,” he says. “To turn up the volume.”
DON RAINESLandscape and urban designer, Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC
For Don Raines, it all begins and ends with a clean river.
At the age of 11, Raines noticed that the crawdads were dying in the local creek. Turns out, the paint company located upstream was dumping chemicals into the water. His parents reported the discovery to a fledging EPA office that subsequently sued the Garland-based business. “That was the ’70s and the beginning of my concern with pollution,” Raines says. “I have kept the environmental code since then.”
As a local lead designer on the lakes and river aspect of the proposed Trinity River revitalization, Raines is putting his code to good use. “The boldest statement of the Trinity project has to do with water quality,” he says. “Everything we do, everything we throw away, comes back to the river.”
Integral to improving the situation is adding back natural meanders that were straightened out in the 1930s. The new design shifts the habitat, renewing aquatic life by introducing oxygen into the water. Raines predicts a return of native wildlife—and substantially cleaner water.
Raines lives in the Trinity Townhomes, the first new development built on the shores of the Trinity since the flood of 1908, and he walks across the Houston Street Bridge daily to get to work. He’s been a walking commuter since his days in San Francisco. “I haven’t driven a car to work regularly for 10 years. It’s the right thing to do.”
JYL DEHAVENFounder, Arbiter Inc., Going Green USA, Green Collar Vets, Green Urban Development
If local businesses won’t go green, Jyl DeHaven has a solution: “We’re not going to ask nicely. We’re going to give you support, give you a deadline, or it’s a 2-by-4 between the eyes.”
DeHaven’s background as a commercial broker leads her naturally into her current ventures: Going Green USA, which offers consultation and installation of green products; Green Collar Vets, a nonprofit that teaches green building skills to veterans; and Green Urban Development, which creates mixed-use green commercial projects.
Green Collar Vets has created a lot of publicity for DeHaven, who does many interviews with former U.S. Marine Paul Hess. At 23, Hess is the only certified installer of American Clay Earth Plaster in the state. American Clay is a green interior and ceiling wall plaster that does cool things like prevent mildew and alleviate allergy symptoms. The clay is green. Hess is hot. Now that’s an easy environmental sell.
Through Green Urban Development, DeHaven is working on the Urban Race Street project a mile from downtown Fort Worth. Consider it a green West Village.
“Green is just my deal,” DeHaven says. “I spend lots of time overcoming the idea that it costs too much, pointing out there’s almost always a payback. Consumers don’t want a lecture. They want to hear that this is just a cool way to do business.”
It’s certainly cooler than a 2-by-4.
KATE MACAULAY & MICHAEL JOHNSON
Owners, Green Living
Kate Macaulay and Michael Johnson were working in Singapore when they had a business idea they knew Dallas needed.
Johnson was a ship builder. Macaulay specialized in nonprofits, which doesn’t seem so at first blush but segued nicely into the couple’s Green Living retail shop in Lakewood.
“I was aware of fair trade but later realized the connection of fair trade to the environment,” Macaulay says. “If you don’t have the money to put shoes on your children, the environment is not going to be your No. 1 concern.”
Green Living, which opened in the summer of 2003, was the first earth-friendly general store in Dallas. All products at Green Living touch on the principles Macaulay and Johnson formed during the planning stages: reducing our ecological footprint, buying handmade and fair trade, using natural materials, conserving resources, and recycling.
And it’s all beautiful. “You can come in and have this positive shopping experience without necessarily realizing it’s good for the environment,” Macaulay says. “Green isn’t all beige and granola.”
They’re green, 24-7, and they are willing to share all they know.
“Michael and I aren’t the kind of people who are green at work and come home and drink water from Fiji and eat steak.”
JOE HARBERGPrincipal partner and co-manager, Current Energy
When Joe Harberg built a new home a few years ago, he couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find and incorporate energy-saving products and features into the plans. Today, as principal partner and co-manager of Current Energy, Harberg is doing more than peddling green products. He’s embarked on a mission to run a worldwide energy company that will protect the earth’s resources while saving people lots of money. “Whether you’re a believer or not,” Harberg says, “our company is going to help your pocketbook and the world.”
Harberg opened the world’s first energy efficiency store in Dallas about a year ago, selling everything from energy-saving light bulbs to top-rated, eco-friendly laundry detergent. The company offers energy audits and a broad range of power-saving solutions to homeowners. In addition, Current has established a set of strict energy efficiency standards for new homes. “At least 500 homes are already using these standards, including one development of 60 residences,” says Harberg, who is carefully growing the company model for national expansion.
In the commercial arena, Harberg is marketing Current Energy technology that manages on one screen all energy-related processes in a business or storefront. Local CiCi’s Pizza and Wendy’s locations are already realizing up to 35 percent energy savings.
“We’re leading the quest for smart energy solutions.”
ANNEMARIE MAREKPrincipal, Marek & Company
Annemarie Marek still has the t-shirt she wore while marching in observance of the first-ever Earth Day. The shirt may have faded, but Marek’s zeal for protecting the environment remains as vivid today as it was 37 years ago.
“I’ve always believed in walking the talk,” Marek says. As a child, she remembers watching her parents recycle aluminum foil and grocery sacks. “It’s in my DNA,” she says of her sense of environmental responsibility.
Her “waste-not-want-not” philosophy is also evident in her work. She has consulted nationally on practices relating to sustainable business, and now she advises companies on these practices, such as developing environmental stewardship policies and communications campaigns, through her boutique firm, Marek & Company. She is not only a PR consultant, but she’s also a LEED-accredited professional. This certification has proven valuable in a market that has seen a surge in the demand for all things green.
“Everyone’s jumping on the green bandwagon,” she says. “It’s a pocketbook issue now.” But she harbors no resentment toward the newly converted environmentalists out there.
“I’ve waited a very long time for the message to come to Texas.”
LAURA FIFFICKDirector, City of Dallas Office of Environmental Quality
Laura Fiffick clearly has her finger on the pulse of Dallas’ environmental future. Her department manages the vast majority of the city’s environmental directives, communications, and departmental programs. On any given day, she interfaces with the local Environmental Protection Agency office as well as national and international experts on areas such as air and water pollution and innovation in alternative sources of energy. In fact, if there is one go-to person on green matters, it’s Fiffick.
“We’ve made lots of progress in the past few years,” says Fiffick, who recently instituted an Environmental Management System (EMS), a program that assists in planning and tracking initiatives across 14 municipal departments. Expected benefits include vastly improved environmental compliance, promotion of environmental stewardship, and increased efficiency in city operations. “We have programs in place that are already making a difference,” she says. “It’s a huge step for the city.”
A quick perusal of the department’s first annual report on the Metropolitan Environment reveals the progress Fiffick is monitoring. Among the municipal milestones: diversion of 2,316,435 pounds of materials from landfills, reduction of energy usage by 25 percent over the past five years, installation of solar-powered school and warning flashers, and a conversion to LED traffic signals that has resulted in an annual reduction of more than 14.5 million kilowatt hours and 9,341.6 tons of CO2.
“It’s just the beginning,” she says. “We have many plans in place for the future.”
GARRETT BOONECo-chairman, Texas Business for Clean Air
Garrett Boone had a rapid learning curve when cramming for a meeting about air quality last year with TXU’s Mike McCall. Boone, chairman emeritus of the Container Store, along with Trammell S. Crow Jr. and Consumer Club CEO David S. Litman, spoke with Wall Street analysts and read countless articles to arm themselves with enough information to speak on behalf of their newly formed group, Texas Business for Clean Air. Their goal was to halt the fast-tracking of 11 coal plant permits.
The meeting was successful and significant: it was the first time a group of Texas businessmen had spoken out for clean air and environmental responsibility. “Once the mad dash to build coal plants was brought to a halt, we began lobbying for key clean energy and energy efficiency bills in the legislature,” he says. TBCA now boasts more than 300 members statewide and is committed to tackling air quality issues as a matter of good corporate practice.
“Businesses who pay attention to minimizing their footprint and maximizing their business sustainability will be the most successful businesses in the future,” Boone says. He also applies these lessons at home. His family owns three hybrid cars, he uses only reusable bags at the grocery store, and he installed compact fluorescent bulbs throughout his house, helping reduce energy consumption by 50 percent.
THOMAS KEMPER
Founder, Dolphin Blue, and co-founder, Sustainable Dallas
Thomas Kemper was living green long before it was a popular PR strategy. Nearly 20 years ago, Kemper was trying to spread awareness about responsible living. He started small, campaigning outside Tom Thumb stores to bring curbside recycling to the grocery chain. In 1992, he organized the first public recycling event in Dallas. But when he noticed his recycled items were being taken straight to the landfill, he realized there had to be a demand for his supply to matter. “If we’re not buying products made from the materials we’re putting in the bins,” he says, “it’s never going to do any good.”
So, in 1993, Kemper founded Dolphin Blue, a Dallas-based online seller of environmentally responsible office supplies. Today his web site carries more than 3,000 commonly used products, from envelopes to toner cartridges to file cabinets, all made of at least 20 percent post-consumer recycled material.
Kemper also co-founded Sustainable Dallas, a group that spotlights local green companies at annual conferences. He says his own business has been looking brighter as global awareness of environmental issues has grown in recent years. Dolphin Blue customers now include the U.S. Postal Service, the Social Security Administration, and hundreds of small- to medium-sized businesses nationwide.
“It’s like the world’s finally awakened,” he says. “But are we doing enough, and are we doing it fast enough? I don’t know. We’ve been doing a lot of things wrong for a long time.”
KIM & DAVID HURT
Volunteers and major donors, Dogwood Canyon
You can take Kim and David Hurt out of the country but, thankfully, you can’t take the country out of the Hurts.
The Lakewood couple—owners of Wild Birds Unlimited on Lovers Lane, Relax the Back on Oak Lawn Avenue, and a new construction company called Sustainable House—bought 40 acres of land several years ago near Cedar Hill, in an effort to re-create for their two kids a bit of their own childhood.
They planned to build their home in the canyon south of FM1382. Then they met their land’s current residents: black-chinned hummingbirds, golden-cheeked warblers, painted buntings. And the dogwoods, growing in white rock, which is just unheard of.
“That’s when we knew this is a special place, and it doesn’t need our house on it,” David says. “It doesn’t need anybody’s house on it. It was easy to justify giving it to Audubon, knowing … it would affect generations.”
The National Audubon Society chose the site as part of its 2020 Vision Plan to build 1,000 nature centers, mostly in the country’s urban areas. The Dogwood Canyon project grew to almost 400 acres (including 110 acres of the Cedar Mountain Preserve, which is now connected to the project). The Hurts then set about helping to raise the necessary $7.5 million to complete the project. With only $630,000 left to raise, groundbreaking should begin soon.
“Part of this was conservation,” David says. “And part was to get kids to have a nature experience like Kim and I did so they’ll grow up to protect the environment.”
DIANE CHEATHAMDeveloper, Urban Reserve
Diane Cheatham describes her path to environmental consciousness as a gradual one. But she can soon add herself to the list of “true believers,” specifically because her new home, under construction in the Urban Reserve development, will have a cistern.
Hers won’t be the only property with this amenity, however. Water recycling and conservation is a key element to the 50-home planned development that boasts designs by some of the foremost local names in modern architecture. “We wanted to create a place and to create a neighborhood,” Cheatham says. In addition to Urban Reserve’s striking aesthetics, the community will have two retention ponds, rain gardens for water collection, and homes that are at least 20 percent more energy efficient than those deemed acceptable by city code.
Cheatham predicts that Urban Reserve will attract a diverse and tight-knit population, united by its commitment to environmental responsibility and affinity for modernist architecture. “Our neighborhood is connected by what [its residents] are really interested in,” Cheatham says. Another passion she shares with her soon-to-be neighbors is a fondness for cooking, which she says seems to be just a happy coincidence. “We’ve already started talking about hosting progressive dinners.”
ALAN HOFFMANNOwner, Alan Hoffmann Company
As recently as 1994, builder Alan Hoffmann faced open hostility from his peers for implementing energy-efficient materials into his homes. Now, 13 years later, the rest of the building community is beginning to catch on. In November, Hoffmann attended the Greenbuild conference in Chicago, and he says attendance was up considerably from last year. “What that tells me is that people are looking at [green building],” he says.
Hoffmann works exclusively with insulated concrete forms or ICFs, which are not only energy-efficient but also hurricane-proof and tornado-resistant. He built the only LEED-certified platinum house in Dallas, in Little Forest Hills, and he’s in early discussions about a development in the Casa Linda area with houses that derive energy through a natural gas-powered microturbine.
Despite the costly sounding “platinum” label, Hoffmann’s bottom line is affordability. “Green is completely affordable,” he says. “It’s not more money.” He is working on creating less expensive products, and he’s on a committee that advises the City of Dallas on matters such as instituting higher energy standards for new buildings. “I just don’t want to be part of the problem,” he says.
BETSY DEL MONTEPrincipal, The Beck Group
Betsy del Monte’s commitment to promoting environmental responsibility is renewed every time she sees her son, a 16-year-old cross-country runner, struggle for breath as a result of Dallas’ poor air quality. “He’s a healthy kid,” she says. “There is no excuse for this.”
Fortunately, as a principal with the Beck Group, she has an esteemed pulpit from which to spread her message. Del Monte has served as president of the U.S. Green Building Council and now leads the Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects. She says Dallas is accomplishing a lot in regards to sustainability, but contends, “There is so much more to be done.”
While she does her part at home by recycling and driving a hybrid car (though she says she should ride her bike), she is making an even bigger impact at work, where she educates employees on ways to encourage clients to make their projects green-friendly. She cites a list that includes suggestions such as orienting a structure in an east-west direction and minimizing a building’s footprint as a way to help clients achieve an environmentally responsible structure with little effect on cost or schedule. “It doesn’t make economic sense, for any of us, to grind our environment into the dust,” she says.
