Green Depot: Greening Up Real Estate Plank By Plank

The founder of Green Depot, America’s eco-answer to Home Depot, is helping push green into the mainstream.
Green Depot: Greening Up Real Estate Plank By Plank
Green Depot on Bowery Street in New York, opened in February 2009. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
Charlotte Cuthbertson
8/28/2009
Updated:
5/26/2010
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/outside_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/outside_medium.jpg" alt="Green Depot on Bowery Street in New York, opened in February 2009. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)" title="Green Depot on Bowery Street in New York, opened in February 2009. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-91494"/></a>
Green Depot on Bowery Street in New York, opened in February 2009. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)


<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Sarah-BeattyWEB_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Sarah-BeattyWEB_medium-300x450.jpg" alt="Sarah Beatty, founder of Green Depo. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Beatty)" title="Sarah Beatty, founder of Green Depo. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Beatty)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-91495"/></a>
Sarah Beatty, founder of Green Depo. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Beatty)
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/flooring_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/flooring_medium-299x450.jpg" alt="Sustainable flooring options include cork tiles, alternatives to linoleum, and wood. The most eco-flooring option is cork, according to staff. The way they harvest the cork is not damaging to the trees. The cork/bark is shorn off the tree and grows back within nine years. The natural linoleum is made from flaxseed, woodpulp and linseed oil, with the binding agent being pine resin. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)" title="Sustainable flooring options include cork tiles, alternatives to linoleum, and wood. The most eco-flooring option is cork, according to staff. The way they harvest the cork is not damaging to the trees. The cork/bark is shorn off the tree and grows back within nine years. The natural linoleum is made from flaxseed, woodpulp and linseed oil, with the binding agent being pine resin. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-91496"/></a>
Sustainable flooring options include cork tiles, alternatives to linoleum, and wood. The most eco-flooring option is cork, according to staff. The way they harvest the cork is not damaging to the trees. The cork/bark is shorn off the tree and grows back within nine years. The natural linoleum is made from flaxseed, woodpulp and linseed oil, with the binding agent being pine resin. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—A week before Sarah Beatty was due to have her first child, she was told her home may be poisonous. She paid $3,000 for someone to come and test her house for toxins—thankfully declaring it livable. Five years and two children later, Beatty has taken a road she never imagined.
 
The founder of Green Depot, America’s eco-answer to Home Depot, is helping push green into the mainstream.

“I never considered my home environment from a health perspective,” said Ms. Beatty, adding that toxicity in homes is vastly underreported.

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study said the air inside homes is 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside. Most people spend 90 percent of their time inside.

“I was just a mom at home,” said Ms. Beatty. “I deserve to know what’s in the products in my house. Once you know, you have to be responsible.”

Ms. Beatty brought Green Depot into existence in 2005, with the idea to bring green products to the construction industry as well as to the average consumer. The flagship store in downtown New York was opened in February this year, and despite tough economic times has been a resounding success.

Green Lining

“This economic downturn has been the best thing for green,” said Ms. Beatty. “It’s common sense—saving money on heating bills, conserving natural resources... it’s practical, sound thinking.”

If research on the topic is any indication, Ms. Beatty is on to something. Seventy percent of consumers reported that they would be more inclined to purchase a green home in a down market, according to a McGraw-Hill research paper released earlier this year.

“It is likely that green will reach the mainstream of the global marketplace and achieve critical mass,” the report said. “Green building is now a multinational, global-level phenomenon.”

Of all the existing owners out there that are renovating, and renovating to sell, Ms. Beatty says, “all the smart ones are retrofitting green. It will become a selling point.”

Now, Ms. Beatty is helping change the face of the real estate industry by greening it up.
“We have the most impact when we serve the trade industry,” she said. She is aiming for Green Depot to be the leader in construction, green building supplies, expertise, and solutions.
 
A source of inspiration for her is Van Jones, the champion of Green For All, a national organization working to build green into the economy and lift people out of poverty.

“Van Jones inspires me big time,” said Ms. Beatty. “Innovation and opportunity exist in green jobs and retraining the unemployed in practical jobs to go back to work retrofitting America.”

Ms. Beatty hopes the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program will be better regulated with a stewardship of the process introduced.

Air Quality Issues

The EPA said modern buildings are constructed so tightly, using materials with 100 times more chemicals than before 1920, that allergens, pollutants, and chemical “outgassing” is concentrated and trapped inside.
 
Consequently, after weatherization, concentrations of indoor air pollutants from sources inside the home can increase.
 
Obama’s green policies are encouraging homes to be weatherized, making them more airtight. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, across the nation in 2007 for every $1 invested, weatherization returned $2.10 in energy-related benefits.
 
The benefits of weatherization can become a dilemma between energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

“If you seal your home up, what toxins are you sealing into your home?” asks Ms. Beatty. She tells people to deep-clean their homes. “Minimize chemical load in your house.”
Using toxic cleaners replaces one issue with another chemical issue. And she thinks brokers should get air quality testing kits.

Filtering System

The Green Depot’s filter system is stringent and new products have to be passed through rigorous testing before hitting the shop floor.
 
The filter acts as a protector from “green washing,” said Ms. Beatty, and is an internal assessment tool to maintain standards.

“Green can become very emotional for people, so the filter means it is fact-driven,” she said.
Manufacturers have “greened-up” since the filter system has been put into use—especially in the lumber industry and with finishes.