For the past two years, we’ve been media sponsors for the always excellent West Coast Green conference.  WCG pushes the envelope on innovation and sustainability, and this year will be no different.  Today I received renderings of the West Coast Green Showhouse, aka the SG Blocks 2008 Showhouse, built by SG Blocks and designed by The Lawrence Group.  It’s a 1700 sf container home, but you probably can’t tell just by looking.  Sustainability will be number one, with GreenPoint and LEED certification in the plans.  Plus, it seems that ecofabulous will be doing the interior design work, so the home, you can believe, will be modish, posh, and green. 

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This is a post and beam house in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles owned by Elaine Wakeland and Eric Garcetti, President of LA City Council.  As you may have previously read in this Dwell article, they’re both environmentally- conscious and highly active in their community.  As a result, they wanted to update their 1950s home and retained the help of Scrafano Architects to suss out its modern traits.  They also wanted to make the home as energy efficient and healthy as possible.  So they removed walls, took out an extra bathroom, and found ways to draw in more natural lighting.  They installed a tankless water heater and solar panels on the roof — a move that now provides 50% of the home’s energy. 

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If you’re in a sunny location and your home has windows, then you probably like to pull a curtain or close the shutters to keep direct heat from entering the home.  Just today I was driving by a modern home with slight overhangs and nodded my head in approval thinking: "buya … such a simple design element and it’s providing shading for those super large windows during the heat of the day."  I realize we’re talking about something basic, but if you have the chance, roof overhangs can make a difference as to how much you’re manipulating the interior temperature with mechanical systems.  Check this ranch house by Cottam Hargrave.  With that much glass in Georgetown, Texas, a little roof overhang is a prerequisite, don’t you think?!

I received an email from Modern Dwelling in relation to this contemporary, green pad and pretty much had to share some details.  First things first, if you’re in the Seattle area, there’s going to be an art showing at the home this Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 7 pm, so make sure to check that out.*  Otherwise, the Mount Baker Residence, as it’s known, is perched on a slope with views of Rainier Valley to downtown Seattle.  With tons of natural lighting, four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and 2470 sf of living space, it’s tough to go wrong in a home that looks like this.  Here are some of its green features:

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At the tail end of last week, Shirey Contracting broke ground on the Zero Energy Idea House located at Bass Cove near Bellevue, Washington.  The house is intended to be kind of an inspirational structure that can help homeowners move toward energy independence.  As a zero energy house*, the goal is to generate all the necessary energy from on-site power and efficiency measures.  Specifically, the Idea House will have rooftop solar, solar hot water, and a vertical-axis small wind turbine, judging by the rendering.  In addition, the 1700 sf home will have a large, 1200 sf green roof and a host of other green features, such as:

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