Home Builders Move Towards Low Energy Design

Today’s NYTimes focuses on white roofs as energy cost cutters.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu advises Americans to “make it white”, when it comes to architectural building design. California Energy Commission member argues that Art Rosenfeld, turning all of the world’s roofs “light” over the next 20 years could save the equivalent of 24 billion metric tons in carbon dioxide emissions.

Such an energy savings is the equivalent of turning off the whole world for a year.

Richard Meier’s white building, low-energy homeThe NYT article doesn’t do much to inspire us design-wise, so I turned to architect Richard Meier and partner Michael Palladino’s entirely white design: roofs, walls, and interiors.

The 4200 square foot home is a McMansion, and therefore not kosher to many Cultural Creatives. LowImpactLiving.com suggests that a house this size is well-suited to ground heat exchange.