One of the islands off the coast of Washington, Lopez Island, has seen rising land prices, which in turn, has put the squeeze on teachers, health care workers, and others in need of affordable housing.  In an effort to help, Mithun partnered with the Lopez Community Land Trust to create eleven economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable homes.  These homes are now complete and the community, Common Ground, is absolutely incredible.  The net-zero energy homes feature some of these green elements:

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When it comes picking a green surface material, there's a lot out there to choose from.  And we're going to give you another option, Elements by Durcon.  Elements is made with 10% post-consumer recycled glass, an epoxy resin, and fine quartz.  Available in five main colors, Elements is non-porous and has inherent anti-fungal and anti-microbial characteristics.  The surface does not require sealing, and according to Durcon, it will not off-gas. 

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Hot on the heels of our prior coverage of the Rainscreen Shed and the International Shed of the Year comes this solar-powered beauty, the Microhouse.  According to Naomi Seldin of Simpler Living, the 100 square-foot tiny house is part of the Human = Landscape exhibit going on in City Hall Park in Burlington, Vermont.  The Microhouse was built by Alex Carver and Christopher North of Northern Timbers Construction with the design help of landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.

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Jerry Yudelson is a machine when it comes to publishing new books on cutting-edge green building topics.  In his latest book, Green Building Trends: Europe, Yudelson tackles a topic that's popping up in the news more and more.  Whether the topic is couched in a discussion of PassivHaus, Swedish prefabrication, or otherwise, it surfaces as a question: Are Europeans more advanced that Americans when it comes to green building design and innovation?

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The portable classroom is just about as ubiquitous as the mobile home, so our ears perked when Toby Long, principal of Clever Homes and Toby Long Design, mentioned these first-generation, prefab, green portable classrooms.  Working with the Chartwell School in Seaside, California — itself the first LEED Platinum campus in the country — Toby Long Design designed, fabricated, and installed two relocatable classroom structures on the Chartwell campus.  Almost incredibly, the on-site work only took about four weeks. 

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The other day, Ready Solar announced the availability of this ground mount accessory for its modular Solar in a Box photovoltaic system.  The ground mount is just one more accessory that fits well with Ready Solar's line of dead simple solar products.  It bolts onto the integrated solar system and the tilt angle is established based on the distance between the front and back legs. 

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