Can a massive house also be a green one?
I’ve interviewed lots of developers over the years who’ve proudly declared their homes to be green, that is, environmentally friendly. They tout the home’s EnergyStar-rated appliances, its geothermal heating pumps, its low-VOC paints and carpeting, its bamboo floors and the fact that its construction materials were only shipped from local suppliers.
That’s all good. But these developers never question the fact that their new homes, many of which include more than 6,000 square feet of living space, might be too large to be truly called green. After all, doesn’t building a mansion automatically leave a big impact on the environment?
There was an interesting story about this recently in the New York Times. Writer Lisa Prevost highlighted a model home in a North Stamford, Conn., subdivision called Windermere on the Lake. The home includes 7,000 square feet of living space. Its developers say it’s also a green home, despite its five bedrooms, four bathrooms, wine cellar and home theater. You can read about it here.
To be honest, I don’t buy it. A green home can’t be 7,000 square feet. And really, anytime you build a new home, can you really say you’re doing anything environmentally friendly? What if you’re tearing down an existing home to build this new green model? Wouldn’t it have been better for the environment to simply leave the existing home standing?
I think the term “green home” is tossed around too much these days. It certainly is trendy. But if your home has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a wine cellar, and if it boasts 7,000 or more square feet? I hate to tell you, but it’s not environmentally friendly, no matter how many solar panels you’ve stuck on its roof.
What do you think? Can a giant house be a green one?
Tags: green-building, New-York-Times, Windermere on the LakeRelated Stories
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