Can a big house be green? Berkeley residents who are destined to be neighbors to millionaire Mitch Kapor don't think so, and have shared their concerns with the New York Times.
Can a big house be green? Berkeley residents who are destined to be neighbors to millionaire Mitch Kapor don't think so, and have shared their concerns with the New York Times.
Gary Earl Parsons, a Berkeley architect and a member of that city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, called the designation of the Kapor house as green “absurd.”
“That the staff, the owners and the architects indulge in this kind of greenwashing only serves to make a joke out of Berkeley’s environmental aspirations,” Mr. Parsons wrote on the Berkeleyside blog.
Greg Powell, the city’s senior planner assigned to the project, defended the point system. “True, the greenest house is the house you don’t build,” he said. “But we assume people are going to build new homes, and we encourage them to make them better.”
3 Comments
wait, a billionaire opted not to submit for LEED at all because his ginormous house was somehow not viable for LEED platinum?
but... but... but he drives a prius!
On one hand, they followed all the green regulations, it's not like they're trying to sneak something through. But not doing LEED just because you can't get platinum sounds suspicious. There are so many reasons not to do LEED, and not being able to get to platinum isn't high on the list.
I'm not a fan of McMansions but still I sense a bit of prejudice here just because it's a big house.
And yes, the "he drives a prius" comment was pretty funny, like it makes you an instant saint!
the berkeley kapor house isn't really about green at all.. it's just a bunch of crazy people who live around there (not immediate neighbors though!) who don't like modern architecture or any new houses being built anywhere near them that don't fake their old timey aesthetic
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/03/15/neighbors-express-support-for-2707-rose-street-home/
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