With the increasing importance and responsibility of saving the planet and all its natural resources, some individuals as well as companies have been thinking out of the box and creating innovative solutions to housing problems and the impact they have on our environment once constructed. Eco friendly or green homes have come a long way in just a short time frame. From wind-powered electric turbines to solar panels and geothermal heating systems, these homes are not surprisingly becoming a favored universal trend. This current style of dwelling will not only diminishes the carbon footprint a home leaves behind but has also has influenced some to design some of the world’s most extreme eco friendly homes. Below is a list of our top ten.
Athena Marie Plantation – North Hutchinson Island in Vero Beach is home to the Athena Marie Plantation. Known to be the largest green home built in the U.S. as of this date, this 45,760 square foot plantation is the first in the America to feature wind powered electric turbines on its roof. The second level has open curved balconies overlooking the main foyer with three oceanfront guest suites and a 400 square foot exercise room for Athena’s guests and their families and the master suite has ten mile views of the gorgeous Treasure Coast beaches of Florida. Even more impressive is the fact that this plantation is also the first green home design in Florida to use 100 percent renewable energy. This means it will be built with an Insulated Concrete Form wall system that will not only save energy and reduce its carbon footprint, but will also help the building withstand high winds and damage in the event of a hurricane.
The Orchid House – Located on a nature reserve in Cotswold, England, the Orchid House is part of the Lower Mill Estate, a green home building project that includes the development of several eco-houses. Presently it is the most expensive green home that has ever actually been sold at a record $14.2 million U.S. dollars. Although not as big as others, at 2400 square feet, the cost works out to roughly about $6,000 per square foot. The home features cutting-edge designs and will generate more energy than it consumes through a geothermal heating underground pump. The form is created using laminated veneer lumber clad with timber shingles imprinted with a camouflage pattern. The Orchid House was inspired by and resembles a bee orchid, a flower abundantly found on the nature reserve.
570 Edgewater Drive in Tampa, Florida – Tampa is a great environment for this most extreme green home structure. This 12,000-square-foot green home features solar electric panels, an underground pump for geothermal heating, LED lighting and a specially monitored system that lets the shower water be reused for flushing the toilets. The arrangements for this green home building construction anticipate it will generate as much electricity as it utilizes. As a matter of fact, this eco friendly home combines so many green home design principles that the builder’s hopes is to receive a platinum certification, which is the highest possible level of certification available from the U.S. Green Building Coalition’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
995 Longbow Place in Larkspur, Colorado – This 9,800 square foot home is known as “one of the greenest luxury homes ever built.” In spite of the enormous size, the utility bill costs a meager $350 per month. The spacious $4.5 million green home is full of eco friendly attributes like solar thermal panels, 90 percent efficient water heating systems, solar electric panels and wrap-around wall insulation. Recycled and organic materials were used throughout the home, like Volatile Organic Compound-free paints and stains and logs made of composite materials for the outside finish.-
Portable Martin House-To-Go – Frankly, this has to be one of the most practical, eco friendly houses on the planet. It definite takes the term green to the extreme. With this portable house, you can pack up and move whenever you feel the need. The Martin portable house is constructed to the highest of building specifications and is weatherproofed with NASA accredited insulation that will endure harsh weather conditions. Although, the living quarters are small you will not be cramped. The floor plan uses the space wisely to pack as much as possible in to a small space, while giving its residents room enough to breath. It comes complete with a kitchen with sink, refrigerator and stove, a bathroom with shower, sink and toilet, and a roomy loft bedroom. It also has bamboo floors, cathedral ceilings and large windows to create a more open environment. The $33,900 price tag makes the Martin House-to-Go an affordable housing alternative to some of the other houses listed. This would be great for anyone wanting to reduce the high housing costs of traditional living choices. 
Ewok Tree House – This Ewok style tree house was designed by Tom Chudleigh, a Canadian carpenter. The wood and fiberglass waterproof exterior protects the inside of the house which comes with a working kitchen that includes a refrigerator, sink, and microwave. There are also built in beds but unfortunately when using the bathroom you must use the great outdoors. For around $45,000 you can buy just the sphere but for another $50,000 or so you can purchase some extra accessories. The spheres are suspended in trees and accessible by a series of rope bridges. The 11ft wide eco friendly house can sleep four, allowing families to live in the forest without the need to worry about their carbon footprints.
The Zerohouse – This is yet another green wave of the future in sustainable design. Besides looking pretty cool, this eco friendly home provides creative strategies combined with attractive materials, colors and finishes. The zerohouse can collects solar power and store energy for up to at least a week’s worth of usage. It also gathers rainwater in an elevated 2700 gallon reservoir so that gravity can takes it course instead of tapping into the power supply. Waste is processed into dry compost below the house and insulation and day-lighting are used to balance internal temperatures and maximize thermal performance. The house has everything needed for a weekend getaway or long term residence, including a living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms and covered deck. Everything in the house is automatic, with master controls wired to a central laptop computer.
Acqua Liana In Palm Beach County, Florida, developer Frank McKinney has built the world’s largest and most expensive eco friendly home. This enormity is priced at an astronomical $29 million and is the subject of a documentary called The Green Giant. Measurements are at 15,000 square feet and its green amenities include enough solar panels to cover a NBA sized basketball court and purifying systems that produce an air quality cleaner than that of a hospital’s operating room. To reduce temperature, the home features reclaimed and renewable wood, and plenty of waterfalls, pools, and reflecting ponds. There was even a special system created to collect and recycle runoff water from the roof to give to the garden and landscape.-
Windermere on the Lake – The picture shown is a model home located in a community of quaint eco friendly lakeside homes’ centralized in Stamford, Connecticut . At approximately 7,000 square feet, it includes a number of optional features such as an elevator, wine cellar, home theater, exercise room, low VOC-paint, geothermal HVAC and Smart House energy controls. This would probably be considered a starter green home to some being that the other three models available range between $3.2 to $4.8 million. - The Dome House – Japan Dome Housing Co., Ltd, a home manufacturer in Japan, created a surprisingly amazing
energy efficient, weather durable, Styrofoam expandable igloo shaped house kit. Believe it or not, this house of the future can be brought and assembled by you and two or three of your friends in a matter of three days provided you work nonstop or in about a week taking your time. A plus to using 100% foam instead of wood or metal, is that it is rot, water, and termite proof, which automatically saves the inhabitants thousands of dollars in future maintenance costs. Using these materials designed by expert engineers provides a structure that is extremely resistant to earthquakes, hurricanes, and typhoons, which also gives peace of mind to those living in environments with frequent and reoccurring forces of nature.
These homes are just some examples of the most extreme eco friendly homes. There are many upgrades that can be done that can certainly make your home more comfortable for your family and more energy efficient. Many options and green home design choices are available today, especially as the cost for sustainable products will continue to decline in the near future.
When it’s your all-encompassing desire to buy a house, one you can call home and build your life around, you tend to make it your first priority. And so you try everything in the book to be able to afford it and not fall behind on your mortgage payments. So if a house comes up for sale at a pretty good price, one that fits your budget, you’re definitely going to do more than just consider the possibility of a purchase. But if the property comes cheap because it needs a lot of renovation work, you need to think twice before you close the sale, because:
- Subsequent maintenance may be difficult: Some houses are very difficult to maintain, no matter how much effort you put into them. And if you’re stuck with one such building, you may be taking care of a white elephant, one that sucks your money and gives you nothing in return.
- Renovation requires permits: Most areas and locations require you to apply for a permit in order to perform renovations, even if they are badly needed. There are some pretty strict regulations regarding renovation that you would have to conform to, and if you’re not allowed to go ahead with the work that is needed, you could end up with a house that is just not worth it.
- Renovation is expensive: Renovation includes not just building new structures but also destroying some that exist and restoring others. It’s a pretty expensive proposition and if you’re not too sure of a flexible budget, it may not be the best option for you. Some of the original materials may not be available in the present, and without them, you would be forced to compromise on the look of the house. So you may have to pay extra to get what you really need. Besides, when you have to change an existing structure to conform to your needs, there is a whole lot of planning and finance decisions involved.
- Renovation is difficult: It’s sometimes easier to build a new house from scratch than to renovate an existing building. This is because renovations have to be planned carefully so as not to mess with the original design, foundation and structure. There are limits to what you can and cannot do, and you are forced to conform to the initial blueprint even though your idea of a perfect home may be completely different.
The real estate situation and the subprime crisis that drove the nation and subsequently the entire world into an economic depression have been the talk of every town for almost a year now. Hundreds of thousands of people were rendered homeless because they lost their jobs and could not keep up with mortgage payments while others had to give up their homes because they were unable to continue meeting the high interest rates. Homes were foreclosed and many more remained empty as a real estate crisis, the likes of which have never been seen before, swept the country
Knoxville, Tennessee, was one of the areas that was not as affected as much as say Florida or California, but it did feel the aftereffects of the rumble and had its share of foreclosures and houses that did not sell because of strict lending policies and unaffordable asking rates. But, in a turnaround of events, things seem to be looking up for this city on the east coast, as these indicators seem to point out:
- The National Association of Realtors has reported that the pending sales index is rising again.
- The year 2009 is seeing the rise in prices of single-family homes to those higher than the national average, according to numbers and statistics from the National Association of Realtors
- More people are taking advantage of the $8000 tax credit for first-time homeowners. The Tennessee Association of Realtors has reported that over 50 percent of home sales in the first quarter of 2009 were because of first-time home buyers. The number of calls related to real estate purchases and information had gone up – the numbers have doubled to show increasing interest in owning houses
- More and more people are starting to visit open houses and look for options, signs that show they are serious about buying homes. Builders are now offering more for the same price, more facilities, more quality, and more value added services for the consumer so that they can get more bang for their buck.
- The signs that the real estate market is looking up in Knoxville tell us that the recession may be over sooner than we think, and that good spending and saving habits will prevent us from suffering another one in the near future.