A while back I read an article about the First ever “triple-certified” green residence, called Aqua Liana. It really struck a nerve with me.
I still find that I cannot wrap my brain around the concept of this house. The project is meant to provide evidence that the American Dream is not dead, but looks more like the nightmare is still alive. Please take a look at the website and especially the video clip of the tour of the home and then ask yourself if this $23,000,000 “home” is part of the solution or symptomatic of the problem.
In the sense that, as long as there are people in the world that have more money than they know what to do with, I guess it is better that they build houses that are triple-certified green. However, to me it would seem that “Green,” when it is just a final number on a spreadsheet that can be arrived at regardless of the cost, seems a little “Dark-green” to me.
Can it not be argued that in terms of utilization of the world’s resources, it would be nice if there were a relationship between the square footage of the home and the number of occupants? Take my home for example—-which is easily suitable for 5 people—-Aqua Liana would need to be home for at least 50 people—-perhaps even more due to efficiencies of scale.
I will likely never REALLY know what I would do with this kind of money, but I would like to think—at least intellectually—-that I would not choose to spend it this way. I would like to think that my “American Dream” was in some ways bigger than this—-more philosophically “opulent” than materialistically opulent.
What say you?
A bit closer to the approach I think works for a larger number of people is discussed in my previous article called, “A Reasoned Indictment of the Green Movement.”
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Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle
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Glenn Roberts says
I only got halfway through the video. Thyere is nothing green about that house except the owner’s concept of what green means
Charles Buell says
Glenn, I think when “green” is only a math equation, something is missed. 🙂
Daniel Rogers says
Disgusting…and I can’t even fathom the damaging imprint on mother earth to create all those gaudy features. He could have cured starving children in a small 3rd world country with all that wasted money.
Charles Buell says
Daniel, no question about it—I found it very difficult to be impressed with the house