Check out Green Show Homes that demonstrate environmentally conscious building practices for designers, builders and buyers
There are a lot of green living expos popping up now and in the USA a lot of green show homes-we aren't quite there in Vancouver even though I think we think of ourselves as living quite green. In many ways today's green show houses are like the 1933 World's Fair Homes of Tomorrow, which were a popular way of showcasing new technologies like dishwashers and central air conditioning. Today the creators of green show houses are using open houses and web chronicles to showcase practices that support the basic tenets of green building: clean indoor air, energy and water efficiency, and recycled or locally produced materials.
When Alysia Reiner and David Alan Basche started renovating their four-story, 5,000-square-foot row house in Harlem, their Web chronicle of process was viewed by 268,000 viewers on dwell.com. (if you haven't checked out the Dwell website or magazine-definitely do-it is my favourite home magazine!) Viewers watched and learned as Mr. Basche installed radiant floor heating to save money and coated the walls in plaster made from recycled marble dust and pulverized seashells. The web chronicle of the renovation turned the process into a marketing vehicle for manufacturers of environmentally conscious products and the developers using them. I would LOVE to do a full green reno-if I could just find my dream house to justify a major renovation!
According to a National Association of Home Builders'/McGraw Hill market forecast green building is expected to become a $20 billion business by 2012. Green show houses, sponsored by magazines, nonprofit groups and developers, are appearing across the USA selling products and spreading a message about environmentally conscious building to designers, builders and home buyers......maybe soon we'll have the same in Canada-we're getting there!
(All cited quotes & figures are from The Green House as Classroom - The New York Times, Dec 20)