Green House: New Trophy Home Is Small And Ecological

The New York Times declares that the new "trophy home" is small, ecological and has its own new designer rating:

For the high-profile crowd that turned out to celebrate a new home in Venice, Calif., the attraction wasn't just the company and the architectural detail. The house boasted the builders' equivalent of a three-star Michelin rating: a LEED platinum certificate.

The actors John Cusack and Pierce Brosnan, with his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, a journalist, came last fall to see a house that the builders promised would "emit no harmful gases into the atmosphere," "produce its own energy" and incorporate recycled materials, from concrete to countertops...

... Its rating was built into that price. LEED -- an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the hot designer label, and platinum is the badge of honor -- the top classification given by the U.S. Green Building Council. "There's kind of a green pride, like driving a Prius," said Brenden McEneaney, a green building adviser to the city of Santa Monica, adding, "It's spreading all over the place."

Devised eight years ago for the commercial arena, the ratings now cover many things, including schools and retail interiors. But homes are the new frontier.

Kelly Meyer, who was involved in Project7ten, wrote about this for HuffPost last year. Click here for a video tour of the house.