Earlier this month, Hardwick G.C. of Orlando received a Multifamily Remodeling Project of the Year award from the NAHB for converting an old single-family bungalow into a green duplex.  The existing 1920s home was about 800 square feet, and the renovation added about 250 square feet and a garage.  In addition, an attached home of about 2150 square feet (and its own garage) was added to the rear and second floor.  Here are some of the green features of Amherst Place:

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Update 5-27-09: Michelle Kaufmann explains what's next.

A short few hours ago, an article popped up on the LA Times website breaking the unfortunate news that Michelle Kaufmann Designs is shutting down by the end of this week.  Despite the fact that the article was written by Christopher Hawthorne — pretty much the most authoritative architecture critic on the West Coast, the news was hard to process.  This is the firm that's built 40 green prefab houses, including the mkLotus, mkSolaire Smart Home, and a number of other beautiful green prefabs!  MKD can't close its doors!  But in an email late this afternoon, Michelle confirmed the news. 

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In Bainbridge Island, Washington, there's a slick modern home under construction that was designed by Coates Design for owners Ed and Joanne Ellis.  Although Seattle has roughly 13 LEED Platinum homes as of today, the Ellis Residence has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum and could be the first single-family residence in the Western Puget Sound region to achieve such a lofty designation.  As you can tell from these renderings, the home has a number of active, passive, and green elements in store:

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I noticed BuildingGreen added these exterior venetian blinds to the GreenSpec Directory recently.  Hella exterior blinds are distributed in the U.S. through Savannah Trims and available in slat sizes of 2", 3.1", and 4".  The blinds are aluminum, have lateral tension, and can be controlled manually or electrically.  They're slick looking and come in a variety of heights, widths, and colors. 

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• A smaller world.
• Solar carbon payback.
• Shades of using greywater.
• LEED's latest overhaul: itself.
• Requirements, choices, and carrots.
• Are green roofs worth the expense?
• Boulder County eases green building rules.
• Rewards make green building worth effort.
• Durability = top green product attribute.
• Green buildings to save $500B by 2030?

Congratulations to OJ for winning The Thoreau You Don't Know in our giveaway this week.  Watch for additional giveaways coming soon.