Tom Konrad is an Analyst at Alternative Energy Stocks, where he writes about investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency companies.  This article is a guest post for Jetson Green.

As a Jetson Green reader, you probably love efficient, modern homes, and probably dream of building your own one day.  But that may not be much help if the home you are looking for today is your next rental, or you need to live in an area where land is not available to build your own place.  You may find yourself looking at existing homes instead. (Existing homes account for 85% of the homes sold each year, and more of the rentals).

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AKA Architetti just won an international competition for their development of a single-family home prototype that’s low-energy and very stylish.  Their design, pictured above and below, will be commercialized in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, with the first units in Darb, Germany in 2008.  The residential prototype calls for eco-friendly materials, photovoltaics on the pitched roof, and energy-saving devices and appliances.  The home will be sufficiently roomy at a decent 1,400 sf big, too.

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The newest not-so-weeHouse, which is also the first weeHouse in a major city, is having an open house next week.  This is your chance to tour a prefab if you’re in the area!  Located at 4221 Ewing Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Oeschger weeHouse is 2,200 sf with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  They used four boxes in constructing the home with the following green features: high-R foam insulation, Kohler dual-flush toilets, bamboo floors and detailing, natural cedar siding, and floor-to-ceiling windows.  The Urban weeHouse will be open for viewing on December 14, 2007, from 4 – 7 pm.  Who knows, maybe you’ll end up with a weeHouse for Christmas?

Other Good Links:
++Urban weeHouse
++Alchemy Architects

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The results of the first systematic study of green buildings are in and they look good!  Specifically, the study filtered sample data to Class A office buildings larger than 200,000 sf, 5 stories or more, built since 1970, and multi- tenanted.  To compare green versus non-green, they used Energy Star and non-Energy Star buildings, and therefore, the sample contained 223 Energy Star buildings (111.7 million square feet) and 2,077 non-Energy Star buildings (889.1 million square feet).  The results: (1) HIGHER occupancy rates, (2) HIGHER rental rates, and (3) HIGHER sales prices psf for Energy Star buildings. 

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Ciralight caught the attention of a few attendees at this year’s Greenbuild 2007 exhibition.  Their flagship product, SunTrackerOne, is free-standing, solar-powered, and completely self-contained.  SunTrackerOne has three mirrors that track and reflect the sun into buildings through a thermal barrier, light well, and diffuser.  It’s different than passive lighting because it collects more light and diffuses it more effectively throughout a building.  This lighting system is a major green innovation to keep an eye on, especially since Ciralight touts a seductive 15 – 35% return on investment on energy savings alone.

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