World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

I can't vouch for how good the show will be, but thought there would be interest out there.

James

World's Greenest Homes
6:05pm Thursday, 23 Jul 2009 Education CC G

Architect and designer Emmanuel Belliveau presents this 13-part series that
takes us on a whirlwind global tour of beautiful homes that are also
eco-friendly.

From structures of glass and steel, to a house made from old freeway scraps,
these individual, one-of-a-kind homes feature high-tech green credentials and an
array of building innovations. Without sacrificing comfort or design to be
eco-friendly, these houses are visually stunning and inspiring, and each of the
buildings featured in this series is a testament to ingenuity and conservation.

In this episode Emmanuel visits a California beach house that's cashing in on
the ocean breezes and has become quite the television star; a green oasis in
sunbaked Greece with some really smart design aspects; an enormous solar-powered
house in Colorado, and in Boston, a fabulous home built out of tons of highway
scraps.

With four separate living areas connected by walkways, architect David Hurtz's
beach house in Venice Beach, California, features an ingenious family-friendly
layout designed to make the most of the ocean breezes. And is so unique it was
chosen to co-star with David Duchovny in the series Californication.

Nestled in the hills just outside Athens, a couple's Grecian home combines
contemporary design with natural and eco-friendly features that are as old as
the surrounding hills.

Garnering 85 percent of its energy from solar panels, Daniel and Isa Shaw's
sprawling home outside Aspen, Colorado, features a small carbon footprint, and
is designed for relaxed family living.

Civil engineers Paul and Cristina Pedini built their huge house from the remains
of an old interstate freeway. The home features 13 slabs of recycled concrete,
30 steel support beams, and a gold-flecked countertop quarried from Italy's
Mount Vesuvius.

permaculture & stuff in the Samford Valley
https://www.randomplantings.com

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

I've found very short bits of two of these documentaries on Youtube. Does anyone know how I can get to seem them all on the Internet? I doubt they'll broadcast them over here in the near future... :?

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

Try the ABC's iView - you should be able to watch it on line from there.

https://www.abc.net.au/tv/iview/

They were pretty extravagant houses... Did like the rammed earth floor in the Greek place. It looks surprisingly simple to do.

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

I couldn't find it on iview...?

They were extremely extravagant though, weren't they. Mostly the houses were way 'over-the-top', with perhaps a 'green' edge.

I must admit too though, I did love the rammed earth floor. I taped the show, and replayed the time delay photos of the construction process a few times in slow motion. Looks really simple and workable.

Maybe that's all we can expect from this show. An occasional idea that might be relevant to those interested in constructing a truly green home.

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

I watched it, and found it to be the most disappointing load of greenwash I've ever seen... It seems that in America you can call just about anything an eco home if it has some recycled material in it and a few solar panels stuck to the roof. Never mind that it's 300% bigger than need be, has one bathroom and flushing toilet per person, and acres of glass that need fancy electric/electronic shading devices to combat all the design flaws built into the design. It's just consumption painted green.

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

I somehow can't see Kimbo showing the TV crew around his place saying - "we wanted a Moroccan / Japanese / Aspen (or whatever it was) feel to the place and I think we've achieved it nicely".
I wondered about the "glass" miles in the twee light fittings that came from Spain via Mexico... A couple of large Vegemite jars would have done the job!

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

G'day
I was a bit disappointed, mainly that they were so huge and all the bathrooms - clearly the owners don't do the cleaning themselves!
And frankly, I wouldn't say no to a pool table anywhere in our house!
But there were some good ideas both the rammed earth floor and that unusual timber cubes over gravel- which I didn't quite catch what the purpose was, anyone know? but it looked good anyway.
And I was deeply impressed by the concept of re-cycling a highway bridge!! I mean that is visionary stuff, who would have thought it?
Hopefully shows like this might inspire people who live in large energy guzzling houses already, that they can do things to reduce their carbon footprint without having to live in a muddie.
The gold flecked kitchen work bench seemed a bit OTT but then it is something that will last as long as the house - whereas the 'normal' trend is to refit the kitchen every few years.
cheers

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

G'day All

I can only confer with the thrust of comment so far: why so friggin' BIG? Honestly, you could fit ten families into one of those houses, and still have room left over for WWOOFers, etc. Seriously, the messages re: reuse, embodied energy, passive solar, etc., were/are all worthy. But worthy to the point of calling the examples thus far, "The World's Greenest Homes"? I don't think so. Don't know whether I'll bother watching the rest of the series (time is always an issue for me), but if they plan on doing a piece on Earthships, let me know. Because there exists (Lee Marvin's 'Earthyacht', aside) the world's truly most green forms of human habitat.

Cheerio, M.

 

Re: World's Greenest Homes - new series starts ABC 23 July

You can see a preview of upcoming programs in this series at the following site - ignore the dates though as that is when it was shown on the discovery channel.
I presume the second from bottom will be the next one on the ABC - big house does seem to be the theme as much as 'green'

https://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/worlds-greenest-homes/