Green Key pointed us to The Leapfrog House website, which has a rendering of this house located at 541 SW Maplecrest Court in Portland, Oregon.  The home is what might be termed "LEED Platinum Plus" in that the home’s developer is going after more than points.  The developer is trying to "jump further into green" and approach zero energy bills and zero water bills.  A noble ambition, I’ll admit.  As you might imagine, the home is for sale and has a laundry list of green features.

Read more »

We’re bringing you back-to-back container home coverage here with this home on an infill lot in the eastern hills above San Francisco Bay.  Designed by Leger Wanaselja Architecture, the project required three insulated containers to create a cozy, two-bedroom house.  Two forty-foot containers were stacked on one side and the third was cut in the middle.  The split containers were also stacked on the other side.  The three containers are brought together with a large, glassy atrium that spans both the first and second floors.  It’s a simple design that shows what’s possible with innovative home construction.  Make sure to check out the construction images, too. 

Read more »

For the past two years, we’ve been media sponsors for the always excellent West Coast Green conference.  WCG pushes the envelope on innovation and sustainability, and this year will be no different.  Today I received renderings of the West Coast Green Showhouse, aka the SG Blocks 2008 Showhouse, built by SG Blocks and designed by The Lawrence Group.  It’s a 1700 sf container home, but you probably can’t tell just by looking.  Sustainability will be number one, with GreenPoint and LEED certification in the plans.  Plus, it seems that ecofabulous will be doing the interior design work, so the home, you can believe, will be modish, posh, and green. 

Read more »

This is a post and beam house in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles owned by Elaine Wakeland and Eric Garcetti, President of LA City Council.  As you may have previously read in this Dwell article, they’re both environmentally- conscious and highly active in their community.  As a result, they wanted to update their 1950s home and retained the help of Scrafano Architects to suss out its modern traits.  They also wanted to make the home as energy efficient and healthy as possible.  So they removed walls, took out an extra bathroom, and found ways to draw in more natural lighting.  They installed a tankless water heater and solar panels on the roof — a move that now provides 50% of the home’s energy. 

Read more »

I received an email from Modern Dwelling in relation to this contemporary, green pad and pretty much had to share some details.  First things first, if you’re in the Seattle area, there’s going to be an art showing at the home this Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 7 pm, so make sure to check that out.*  Otherwise, the Mount Baker Residence, as it’s known, is perched on a slope with views of Rainier Valley to downtown Seattle.  With tons of natural lighting, four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and 2470 sf of living space, it’s tough to go wrong in a home that looks like this.  Here are some of its green features:

Read more »