We blogged recently about the Margarido House -- the first in Northern California to win the LEED-H Platinum rating. Now Portland's at it, with two homes in inner SW earning the top level distinction. They're also smaller and more reasonably priced, making for a green buy indeed.
The Leapfrog houses are the brainchild of Charlie Weiss and Katharine Lawrence, neither of whom are professional architects. The bulk of their experience comes from designing and building a home in 1993 that was "green" before it became a buzzword, incorporating radiant floors, solar hot water, natural materials and efficient appliances.
With the help of architect Kathy Kramer and Green Hammer Construction, the homes are now complete and boast near net-zero energy and water use. How? Energy use is minimized through a super-insulated envelope and super-efficient heating system, and the home is powered with solar energy. There's also a 6,000-gallon underground rainwater storage tank that is used for showers as well as flushing toilets. Hot water come from a ground source heat pump.
According to Portland Architecture, the house is so air-tight that when it was measured by Earth Advantage, it was the highest ever tested by that organization. Weiss had to have fans installed around the house to discharge air.
Other features include radiant heating; concrete floors made with recycled fly ash; 100% local, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified lumber; Pacific madrone and natural linoleum countertops; Energy Star appliances and windows; drought tolerant and native plants; and a reflective metal roof. You can see all the details here.
The 2,600 sq. ft. house will set you back around $600,000, but low maintanence materials and utility bill savings should definitely help replenish your wallet.
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Comments (10)
600,000 is cheap for SF!
^ this is in Portland, OR.
St Louis went Platinum last summer! Check out ecourbanhimes.com
@magdelane
zomg. I that's what I get for not copying and pasting...
www.ecourbanhomes.com
wow - that's good! I live outside of DC and paid almost $600,000 for 1680 sq ft!
Come to Tampa, you can get a historical house in a historical neighborhood in the middle of the urban corridor with grand oak trees lining the streets for under $250,000. No, it may not be brand spanking new, but it doesn't cost you or the environment much to buy an existing house in good condition. We did this and made a few modifications: new low-e windows and sealed up some leaks in a/c tubing.
Check it out: seminoleheights.com
I think this is an impressive accomplishment any way you look at it. It's great to buy an old house (mine is turning 100 this year), but new houses will always be built and it's exciting to think that options like this will become more common and attainable. I'm not familiar with the Portland market but $230/sf sounds like a steal to me.
I'm guessing that people who want to live in Portland wouldn't necessarily want to live in Florida, regardless of the cost (no insult to Florida intended; they are simply very different places)
Why would anyone from Portland want to move down to Florida with all their rich Republicans and Anita Bryant biggots?
Well, bramasoleiowa I sure wouldn't want to live in YOUR section of town knowing how welcome I'd be! BTW-- all the Liberal northerners retire down to Florida, so you'd probly fit right in.