Why I Bought A House In Detroit For $500. Disney's new show home sports a smog-eating roof. ORLANDO — With a smog-eating roof, digitally controlled showerheads and recycled glass countertops, Vision House will open at Epcot on Earth Day.
Conceived by Eastsound, Wash. ,-based Green Builder Media and designed by Walt Disney’s Imagineers, the 4,500 square-foot show house—located inside the theme park’s 100,000-square foot Innoventions building—displays numerous easy-on-the-environment products. Some, like cotton-fiber insulation and LED light bulbs, are familiar and relatively cheap, while others are cutting edge and pricey, like a remote-controlled $6,400 water-saving toilet and a $1,000 electric car charger.
Ron Jones, president of the media firm, says the decision to combine common and exotic products was deliberate. While sexy products always grab attention, he wanted to make sure that each park visitor comes away with at least one affordable idea to live more sustainably. But that’s a stereotype that will be hard to overcome. Demand spikes for zero-energy-cost homes. A rising trend of super-efficient, solar-powered new homes allows homeowners to combat rising energy costs by giving back to the power grid.
Some owners are even realizing a small profit from their home's power-generating capacity. Intelligent house layout and design, and home features such as dual-pane windows, air-tight duct work and high-caliber wall and attic insulation are curbing energy consumption. And when coupled with solar energy, captured through photovoltaic panels, these homes are becoming their own mini power plants that feed electricity to the grid. In 2009, U.S. homeowners paid an average $2,200 for energy use in their homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. See: Green Homes That Give Back to the Grid "It's too good to believe," said Dave Spencer of his net-zero-energy home in Gainesville, Fla. Sounds too good to be true?
A recent Yahoo! The market is listening. Nature & EnvironmentRenewable Energy & Energy SavingShea Homes. Rotating Home That Follows the Sun. Normally, when someone asks for the remote, it’s because they want to undertake some serious TV channel surfing.
But in one unique home located just 90 minutes north of New York City, playing with the remote control will set the entire wooden house spinning on its axis. This dome home was, in fact, built on an electronically-controlled axle. So with a push of a button, the 3,000-square-foot New Paltz home for sale can rotate 360 degrees. In five orbital minutes, the house will turn one full rotation.
The home is listed at $1.2 million. Porsche-designed condo lifts owners and cars to high-rise homes. The big problem for builders of luxury homes in the cities where wealthy people choose to live is the sheer lack of space, especially for parking a small fleet of vehicles.
Which is why one Miami Beach condo developer plans to build a new skyscraper with a robotic parking deck built in. The $560-million Porsche Design Tower project as described by the Miami Herald will allow owners to ride their vehicles into a robotic elevator system that drops them and their vehicles at their doorstep. The condos were designed by Porsche Design Group, a spinoff of the German automaker that lends its style to everything from office complexes to cellphones. (Developer Gil Dezer also has Porsche body panels mounted on his walls.) The condo will have 132 units over 57 stories, with larger units sporting up to four parking spaces per unit.
The condo will have 132 units over 57 stories, with larger units sporting up to four parking spaces per unit. Tour a modern floating home in Vancouver, B.C. A stunning view of the Vancouver marina, the North Shore mountains and downtown are only a taste of the upsides of living in this floating home.
Owners Doug McClelland and Anthony Tucker plopped their newly built floating home in Coal Harbour Marina in Vancouver, British Columbia. This harbor is considered one of the best in North America, and is full of gorgeous yachts of the rich and famous. The sleek modern design stands out as the newest floating house built in this harbor.