As reported by LA Times blog Pardon Our Dust, the Pacific Coast Builders Conference holds an annual competition for the coolest building products and the green building product selections are in. This year, over 600 home-building professionals voted on roughly 125 product submissions, and some of the best have risen to the top. The following list represents the cool-product winners in the green building category for 2008:
Recently, several green roof/wall projects were honored by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities established the Green Roof Awards of Excellence in 2003 with an aim to increase general awareness of green roofs and walls and spread awareness of their benefits. This year, seven projects in various categories received Green Roof Awards of Excellence and here they are:
HGTV has this list of the 20 Ways Your Home Can Save the Planet. Depending on where you’re at in the process of greening your home, you may find this list helpful. I like some of the suggestions but also realize there’s a deeper level of analysis that goes into actually saving the planet with your home. I bet the special presentation show on television was pretty interesting, though. Without further ado:
Every year, the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) invites electronic submissions of built projects and announces ten (10) award winners. I’ve included direct links to each project below — after the links, you’ll find detailed case studies and background information. Here they are …
The topic pops up every month or two. Last month, the issue of big green homes came up in the context of eco-terrorism. Five luxury homes priced over $2 million each were set on fire with a sign left behind saying: "Built green? Nope Black! McMansions + RCD’s R Not Green – ELF"# # The luxury homes were advertised as green, but clearly the eco-terrorists disagreed.# The burnt homes were about 4200 to 4750 sf in size, which isn’t that bad, when compared to some so-called luxury green homes we’ve seen (this one being 9800 sf). The incident highlights the tension between big homes and sustainability.
Today the NY Times resurrects the issue in the context of a new development in Connecticut. As you can tell from the image above, the homes are built in a style meant to evoke 19th-century English country houses. I’m not really interested the style, but some people are and I understand that. The above home is the model home — the first of at least twenty-four, extravagant "green" homes. It’s 7,000 sf.
Project Profiles
