Fueled by the Grateful Dead and a vegan lifestyle, Chris Bartle has helped to add a critical green element to the Bay Area housing market. As founder and CEO of Green Key Real Estate, Chris has helped countless people find and secure the eco-dwelling of their dreams. He helps to turn a complicated (and often expensive) process into an easy, fun experience that has his customers referring Green Key to all their friends.

What inspired you to start your business?

About 10-11 years ago, I attended my first Bioneers Conference. I heard William McDonough and Paul Hawken talk about the position businesses can and should play in transforming the economy since the industrial revolution. It made light bulbs go off in my mind – I knew that that was what I had to commit my career to doing.

I’m an engineer with an MBA and have a lot of skills that they talked about were needed to change the way products were designed. It all just made sense. It took me a couple years to actually do anything with my realization and break free of the corporate grind. I started the Evergreen Group in October 2001. It is a green business brokerage that is still operating. Green Key Real Estate spun off from that and opened in January 2006.

Green Key has much more opportunity to grow and affect change then the Evergreen Group. I’m keeping Evergreen running but putting much more of my energy into Green Key Real Estate. We’re in the middle of a national expansion right now, selling franchises across the country and educating our clients, through our agents, how to green homes. It is using the real estate agent model as a way of spreading knowledge and awareness.

Have you noticed any particular region that is jumping on the green bandwagon, wanting to establish a Green Key Real Estate branch in their area?

The Bay Area is definitely the hottest. We’ve only sold franchises in the Bay Area so far; we haven’t closed any deals outside the Bay Area yet. Other places we are talking to include Boulder, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington. After that, it gets a bit more obscure, like Tahoe and Salt Lake City, Utah. Other states include Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, Virginia and Georgia.

What's the best part about your job?

I work with just amazing people. We have 25 people in our 3 Bay Area offices now. The business has been able to attract some amazing people who come from all different backgrounds. Their common passion around environmentalism and using business to save the planet is just awesome.

The housing market in the United States has slowed down due to the recession. Have you noticed if green homes are continuing to sell despite current conditions?

Oh yes. There is new data coming out in the next weeks and months that shows newly built green homes sell faster and for a higher premium than traditional new construction. The problem with existing homes is that they don’t sell as often, so it is difficult to collect data on trends. People might be remodeling green, but then they don’t sell their house for 5 to 10 years.

Do you see the whole US as starting to “get it” as far as green living?

Yes. The earliest adopters of green habits and technology are locations with high energy bills, which are areas of the country that are hot, cold, or both. That is often the first way that people get this stuff. They realize, "oh, I can save on my energy bills if I insulate or put in double-pane windows.” It really hits their pocketbook.

In fact, San Francisco is probably behind the curve for that same reason, because energy bills are so low here. It’s difficult for people to insulate or put solar panels on their roofs because of already low costs. It’s not a red state/blue state issue at all – it is a health and economic issue.

What are some of your favorite local green businesses?

Our colleagues over at Sustainable Spaces are doing great work; we also work with Mortgage Green. Farther from our industry – wow, there are so many good green businesses; I don’t want to leave anyone out.  3Degrees is another one; we buy renewable energy credit from them to offset our business activities. Elixir is a green bar in the Mission that hosts a green business happy hour every second Thursday of the month.

What is your favorite local green restaurant?

It has to be Millennium – they are 100% vegan and organic; wonderful food.

Where do you shop for organic groceries?

Whole Foods and a little bit of Trader Joe’s.

What are some of the things you do to help make the world a little bit greener?

I’ve been vegan for 11 years – that’s certainly the largest impact that I have. We run a green business; everything we do in our company is green: we recycle, use recycled paper, minimize our energy usage, offset the energy we do use … etc. Wow, I mean, everything I do is green. The funny thing is, like the vegan thing, I’ve been doing it so long that I don’t even think about it or its green aspect. Living green is just part of my life now.

What's your favorite thing about living in the San Francisco Bay area? Least favorite?

What brought me here, and one of the things that I love, is the music scene. I love to see live music. I’m into Grateful Dead, jam bands – that kind of thing. The Fillmore and Great American are my favorite venues.

It’s cliché to say that it’s too expensive, but that’s all there really is. There’s so little that I don’t like about the Bay Area. The cost of living is the only real negative that comes to mind.

Where do you like to take out-of-town visitors?

One of my favorite outlooks is the hill over the Golden Gate Bridge in the Marin Headlands, looking back into the city and the ocean. The top of Twin Peaks is great too. If you are going a drive, the top of Fillmore Street is cool, looking out over the Bay.

What's your favorite vacation destination? Do you prefer to kick back or explore?

What I usually do is camping music festivals. Hawaii would be another on the list. I haven’t done a lot of international travel.

What's your favorite weekend outdoor activity?

Play with my kids – bring them to the playground or the park.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

I don’t know that many names or characteristics of trees. I’m trying to think of something cute. The first tree species that I resonated with, and continue to resonate with, is Redwoods. I went to see Julie Butterfly Hill when she was perched up in tree in Headwater Forest.

Describe your path to green. How and when did you became eco-conscious?

I was on the Grateful Dead tour in the late 80s/early 90s. I started meeting environmentalists and vegetarian – people that I had never come into contact with before then. Learning about volunteering and people wanting to save the planet; it was all very new to me. In 1995, I moved to San Francisco; partially to follow the Grateful Dead and partially for work. I had friends that were members of the Sierra Club and one friend that was working on Rails to Trails. When I went to that Bioneers conference in 1997, it all just mushroomed from there.