Blogging The Oregonian: Super Green in Portland

There's a bit of a rivalry going on with the US Green Building Council, the authority that established the LEED standards. One of their member chapters in the Pacific Northwest wants to go beyond the current standards. So inspired, brothers Dustin and Garrett Moon decided to take on the challenge.

Their first step: demolish the house they bought for about $200,000.

With the old, incorrectly oriented house out of the way, the brothers have plans for a two-story, green-roofed, solar structure they call The Commons. According to the Oregonian, the total cost is projected to be around $200,000 -- a figure we expect to see creep higher as the project goes on, but we'll keep our fingers crossed.

You can join us in keeping tabs on the project at the Moon's website, res communis. We'll work on getting you inside as construction progresses.

photo and illustration: The Oregonian

Comments (3)

The design they are pursuing is fabulous and clearly brings a lot of LEED qualifiers to the table (green roof, rain capture) along with very contemporary design, but what of all the house they are taking down and putting into landfill?

It is not clear from their site or your posting if they are making any good use of what is there. Would love to know.

Yes, cooktine. Isn't that the tension we all have now. I would love to have the new low-flush toilets and bamboo towels, but to throw out the old toilets in my newly constructed house and the perfectly adequate non-organic towels to make way for the greener ones is not very green.

Hopefullly they will make use of the materials from the exisitng house as well as learning to salvage from other demolitions.