We've heard about ecocities in far away lands, but now there's one planned for the Unities States. Located near Fort Meyers, Florida, Babcock Ranch will be powered entirely by solar power. It's a bold and progressive plan, and if Kitson & Partners can secure all the necessary regulatory approvals, construction will begin this year. The city includes a 75-megawatt, on-site, photovoltaic facility constructed by Florida Power & Light for nearly $350 million.
It’s no secret that Good produces the best graphics to illustrate the most current and important points. They tend to go viral and get passed around. I like their popular graphic on vampire energy and guide to prefab construction. Good has a knack for distilling complex information, and I think their new guide to livable streets is worth reading. In it, they explain ten ways to redesign and transform streets to become livable:
This is an affordable green home that is also the first, LEED-H Platinum, single-family home in Ohio. In addition, the home is said to be the first in state to feature both solar thermal and photovoltaic solar panels on one roof. It's beautiful and traditional — definitely the kind of home our non-modern readers dream about — and accented by a leisurely large front porch. If you're in the area, there's an open house on Thursday, May 21, 2009; if you're not, we have some great photos to give you a peek inside. Check out its green features:
Autodesk recently completed tenant improvements at their new headquarters building on the East Coast. The company retained the services of KlingStubbins and Tocci Building Companies to design and build the interior to a LEED Platinum level of certification using LEED-CI. The result is modern office structure with abundant natural light and, of course, plenty of style. My favorite design element is the custom, prefabricated millwork explained in the YouTube video below.
This beautiful and traditional home is the first LEED Platinum home in Connecticut. The three bedroom and two bathroom home was designed/built by Jim and Mark Picton, or Picton Brothers, LLC, and was profiled last month by the new folks at GreenBuildingAdvisor. It's the kind of home that prioritizes design first and expensive green technology second. Picton Brothers went with a super-insulated envelope — R40 in the walls and R60 in the roof — which definitely helped the home earn a HERS score of 30, Five Star + Energy Star rating, and of course, the LEED Platinum certification. Check out some of this home's other green elements:
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.
