The Zero-Energy Prefab
A few years back, green designer Michelle Kaufmann made waves in the environmental world as well as in the homebuilding industry with her first green, affordable modular home, called the Glidehouse. Built in a factory and shipped to the building lot for assembly, the Glidehouse incorporated modern a...
NextGen 08
When the 2008 version of the NextGen Home debuts early in January 2008, it will add another layer to its status as an icon in the residential construction industry. In previous years, the NextGen Home, a demonstration house displayed annually at major home industry shows, has sh...
Going Platinum
As you’ve paged through this Great Homes issue of Smart HomeOwner, you’ve probably seen the word platinum used a lot. No fewer than four of the homes we’ve spotlighted in the preceding pages are certified at the Platinum level — the highest achievable — under the U.S. G...
Carbon Neutral Communities
Carbon has been receiving a lot of bad press lately” which is a little surprising. After all, carbon is the foundation of all life on earth. It makes up 18.5 percent of the human body mass. Plants need carbon to survive. A diamond is essentially highly concentrated carbon” so it can't be...
Disney Gets Innoventive
Tomorrowland has seen the future and it is now. Since opening half a century ago, the fabled Disneyland destination has provided millions of visitors with glimpses into tomorrow’s homes. Now a new generation of visitors to the Anaheim, Calif., theme park will get a peek at future habitats, tha...
Off-the-Shelf Green Homes
As we pointed out earlier in this issue, green building is one of the few bright spots in today’s housing industry. That’s good news for home buyers and builders alike, as it’s an indication of a healthy trend that shows no signs of slowing down. Even better, a growing number ...
The Shape of Things to Come
In the not-too-distant future, you'll be able to wash your dishes without water, cook dinner right at your table, and wash and dry your clothes in the same machine. At least, that's what an international group of design students thinks. As part of a competition called Design Laboratory, sponsored by...
Appliances for Healthy Living
If participants in an international appliance design competition are right, our kitchens are about to help make us a lot healthier. The annual Electrolux Design Lab competition was established in 2003 to foster and promote the design of futuristic, innovative and ultra-functional appliances. For the...
Coming Soon to a Home Near You
It's often said there's nothing new under the sun. We beg to differ. The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) recently identified 10 innovative technologies that are about to make our homes stronger, more durable and more resource-efficient. Some of these technologies, such as comb...
Building Better Coastal Homes
Coastal building is undergoing a dynamic change, as evidenced by two new residential communities in hurricane-prone regions. Audubon Village is a new master-planned coastal community going up on Bolivar Peninsula, a 27-mile-long barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast north of Galveston - and when we...
Subscribe