Last week Anh-Minh gave us a sneak peek into the Sunset Idea House. Saturday's Chronicle included her longer article on San Francisco's first Idea House, which is also one of the first remodeled homes in the country to be LEED-certified. What's so green about a two-unit house that includes a 1,200-square-foot apartment and a 3,600-square-foot main house? Go below the jump to see.
posted originally from: AT:San Francisco
The floors use wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and concrete and fly ash. The paint's low-VOC Benjamin Moore. There's a 50-foot wind turbine in the garden. Computers monitor energy sources and consumption.
However, even the architect, John Lum, says, "as a demo project it's great, but to be truly green it would probably have to be more modest."
Click here to read the article.
Images: Eric Luse
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More modest indeed! While this house may be technically green, it is far from sustainable. Space is a precious resource, and unless you have a family of 7, 3,600 is WAY too big for the average family. As well, the multiple shower heads are most definitely or sustainable even if the water is solar heater.
My place in the Mission certainly didn't look like that.