If you didn’t win the Dream Home, you now have another chance to win a home.  The HGTV Green Home 2009 contest is slated to begin on April 17, so get your bookmarks ready.  We mentioned the HGTV Green Home 2008, which was actually a handsome home, and thought we ought to give it a go this year, too.  The design is kind of, well, they’re calling it modern Spanish-style architecture.  The $700,000 home was designed by Carlson Studio Architects, and the Herald Tribune reports that it already received LEED Platinum certification.  Impressive.

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Just look at the before and after photos of this green home and you'll see a couple critical renovation strategies: (1) get rid of water-sucking grass without making your landscaping look crazy, and (2) keep the same size and scale of your home rather than building it into a monstrosity.  This home, located at 8020 S.W. Elmwood Street in Southwest Portland, is expected to receive the rare designation of LEED Platinum certification and is now listed for sale at $850,000.  Here are some of its green elements:

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There's a conundrum in the green building world that a lot of people are working on.  They're trying to figure out how to building homes that are both sustainable and affordable — homes that most of us can approach.  I could rattle off a list of folks working on this, and Habitat for Humanity would certainly be at the top.  We just mentioned how a Michigan branch of Habitat for Humanity designed and built a LEED Platinum affordable home; and now according to The Oregonian, two Habitat homes in Portland are seeking LEED Platinum certification.  The goal with these homes, like the Michigan home, was to test out various green strategies and technology for affordability.  Here's a little more background:

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It's fascinating to see the many and various forms created by prefab construction.  In this case, Live Edge and Paul Discoe are using a Japanese post and beam system of construction (see bottom two images) to create somewhat traditional (but clean) and warm prefab homes.  These homes are absolutely beautiful and built using reclaimed urban trees, which are removed for disease, storm damage, danger of falling, or construction clearing, etc.  The home pictured above is Live Edge's one-bedroom prototype, and the one immediately below is a two-bedroom home. 

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This classic American home is the end result of smart planning, high performance materials, and passive design techniques.  Designed on a $100,000 dollar budget by the Michigan firm of Dominick Tringali Architects, the project is set to be a prototype for the next generation of Habitat for Humanity homes.  Lets take a closer look…

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