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.

Comments

[WilliePilgrim]

Another example of how it'll be different for the elite when it comes to the sacrifices "we will all have to make" in order to "beat global warming". I have a suggestion when it comes to paying the projected 45 trillion dollars it's been suggested it will cost....lets simply pay for it by quadrupling the price of energy for individuals in private jets. Of course it will make it way too expensive for common folks like you and me and the former senator from you know where to fly in private jets but I have a feeling some of us will be able to bear it in quiet dignity based on the earning from the companies that some of us will have added to our investment portfolio, and which will soon be recieving the benefit of the $45 trillion dollars which will be spend in "fixing this problem"...but good.

[KillTheMessenger]

You are up to something. But the rich will never care, no matter what. They are not the main source of the problem, either. It's the lot of poor folks who drive an F150 and who have single pane glass in their homes who are responsible for most of this mess.

[OlderBudWeiser]

Would love to go all green! Problem? I want solar and there is no one anywhere near to this place to look, talk and estimate costs. I have 2 duplex's, lot's of sunshine, at least a foot of snow in the winter. Have replaced all windows, gone all electric, (got rid of propane) heat with pellet stoves, generator back up power, wireless broadband, nice set up. So where are the solar folks? Subsidy?
How cool would it be to use an electric car and charge it up with solar? Win win.

[middleoftheroad]

Someone should tell John Cusack and Pierce Brosnan that using towncars and limos, sports cars & SUVs, Studio jets, and big motor boats burn more fuel then this cute little house could ever help the planet with. Why don't they make changes in their own industry first. Maybe the next time there is a press junket, they should get picked up in a prius and not a limo.

[MGhamma]

It's too bad that "green" has turned into such a fad, because it will fade out just as quickly.

[KillTheMessenger]

It hasn't even begun, yet. Wait until energy costs soars to double and triple and you will see people go green who never thought for a second about the environment.

[JScott]

Interesting that they so called green homes are usually outrageously expensive. I know, Venice is a very pricey transitioning area, not Newport Beach's Lido Isle (yet) but single family residences priced about the same. And don't whine about wasted/high density etc. the area in which it's built is already a pretty well built up urbanized area, been pretty much that way since the 1920's.

[KillTheMessenger]

What a waste of effort. City planners all over the world know that the only "green" buildings are 20 story high rise apartment buildings which maximize population density and therefor eliminate sprawl. Dense cities make effective public transportation possible and minimize the energy and water footprint of households far beyond anything "green" single family dwellings can ever hope to achieve.

Again America is barking up the wrong tree because the right tree does not have "American Way of Life" written all over it.

[Wilburrr]

Wow... a LEED Platinum certificate for a home in Venice, CA. Do you actually have to heat or cool a home in Venice, CA? Does this home offer a model that can be emulated in Fargo, or Phoenix?

Does it employ any passive solar technology?

[metogamekun]

Like many new innovations, LEED certified homes will be exclusive and expensive to begin with, but will hopefully come down in price as more developers become familiar and comfortable with their construction.

I think it's great that people will aspire to smaller, more efficient homes instead of the biggest, gaudiest thing possible.

[arbroath]

And why are we not making green building a requirement? A: Cowardice. B: More cowardice. C: Follow the money, baby.

[mawrm]

This is going to become big business as more folks are socked with higher energy prices from their McMansions.

[UnbiasView]

So you think people want to move into small houses because of a gas price . . . LOL.

[wolfgangmo]

Not small you a -- $ -- $ crack, reasonable sized.

You really are an idiot, aren't you?

[OptimisticMF]

If by "gas", you mean natural gas then, yes...Go ahead and laugh like buffoon, but if you could replace 70% of your natural gas use with a solar thermal system that would pay for itself in 10-15 years and last for 30 or more, why not?