VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm
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A multimillion dollar green mansion may usher oohs and aahs from the green crazed media, and they might look cool on architecture magazine covers. They make for exciting feature stories that toss 'biggest' and 'greenest' and 'luxury' into the headlines. Just take a look at any one of these 9 "green" mansions, and you'll see what I mean.
But these green beasts do very little to further any sort of green cause in any real way. What spurred me thinking about all this was stumbling upon news of architect Frank McKinney's $20 million dollar luxury green home being built in Florida.
It's a 'Symphony of the Senses' coos the Daily Mail's headline. And yes, the slew of green features it boasts really are impressive: it's LEED certified, it's got tons of solar panels that produce electricity, a huge rainwater collection system, and the thing is made from something like 10 acres of reclaimed wood.
And that brings me to my point. Sure, all that sounds good and green, but just let that last bit sink in for a second. 10 acres of reclaimed wood? Do you know how many smaller houses you could build with 10 acres worth of reclaimed wood, and make much more efficient use of it in the process?
Excessive green features and technology does not equal "green"—a principle that often gets confused in the media. This is still a 15,000 square foot, 7 bedroom house we're talking about here—it's in no way an efficient use of the space it sits upon, and it still exemplifies a "more is better attitude." Green features aside, we simply have to ask if building a home that size is ethical.
TreeHugger (and Planet Greener) Lloyd Alter has said it best:
We just use too much of everything—too much space, too much land, too much food, too much fuel, too much money, and that the key to sustainability is to simply use less. And, the key to happily using less is to design things better."
More on Green Mansions:
Battleground Earth Webisode, Vol. 5: Green Mansion
Can a 15000 SF Mcmansion be Green?
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