Seeking to domino the success of the i-house, Clayton Homes just announced a partnership with general contractor Empire Construction to create a new e-living concept for green, multi-family dwellings.  In a couple months, the e-living concept will be applied to the construction of six units at Raintree Apartments in West Knoxville.  With construction estimated to be complete by December 2009, five of the units will be occupied by families, while the remaining unit will serve as a model home. 

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YardPods are steel-frame, prefab rooms designed to fit snugly in your backyard or somewhere else which are made of modular, eco-friendly parts and materials.  A YardPod, like many of the sheds we've been talking about, can be used in a number of ways, such as for a home office, media room, arts studio, zen retreat, exercise room, work shop, cabana, studio — you name it!  The new company was noticed by Kent Griswold, the Tiny House Blog, and he was able to uncover some interesting details. 

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If you've ever wanted to live in a modern prefab and you're interested in living about thirty minutes north of Duluth, Minnesota, now might be your chance.  In 2005, Alchemy Architects designed this seasonal cabin of roughly 840 square feet, and after that, it became a hit in the national media.  I noticed it in Kiplinger's of all places!  The McGlasson weeHouse has two bedrooms, one and three-quarters bathrooms, a roof deck, and a detached sauna. 

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This is the Living Zero Home, which was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy and built by All American Homes.  The home was on display in Chicago last weekend and will move to about fifteen other destinations throughout the year, including Louisville, Greensboro, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Dallas, Phoenix, and Denver, among other cities.  The modern demonstration home features a Smart Living System — both an energy management and home monitoring tool — which helps owners save money and provides an alert for potential problems, such as a water pipe leak.  The home includes a number of other green elements, too:

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Architect Ray Kappe designed the first (and now iconic) LivingHome in Santa Monica, and now, he has a new multifamily design that LivingHomes will prefabricate for a site in Los Altos, California.  The project includes three attached units, of which, two units will have three bedrooms and three bathrooms and one unit will have one bedroom and one bathroom.  One of the units will be owner occupied, one will be low-income, and the other will be a standard rental.  All of them will be green. 

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