Having a lot of green ? as in cash ? has always been in fashion, but now going green for the environment is en vogue too. Today it?s hip to stop polluting and start saving energy ? even in homebuilding.
Westside realtor Pence Hathorn Silver is at the forefront of this wave of enviro-consciousness with the first LEED home in Santa Monica.? It recently put on an open house for this $5 million home to spread the message of the company?s increasing commitment to green building via collaboration with developers and to show off the luxury home.
?
This residence marks one of several green homes Pence Hathorn Silver will be selling this year, and it?s one of the first to achieve the new (just out of pilot program) LEED Home certification. The U.S. Green Building Council developed the LEED rating system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) initially as a benchmark for commercial properties to gauge how green they were going. It has now developed similar standards for residential building as well. Architect Kyle Astair Moss, principal with Levitt + Moss Architects who was part of this Santa Monica project, believes this is good news for homebuyers just as much as it is for the environment.
?If you?re buying it, you know it?s third party certified,? says Moss. ?You get a higher quality product while it?s also more green.?
?
The open house was hosted by Days of Our Lives actor James Scott, who is also co-founder of Urth Solution, which reaches out to developing markets to help them capitalize on their own natural resources in an environmentally friendly ? and sustainable ? way.
Sustainability in the Santa Monica home is evident, even though the interior is still being finished. And visitors were still able to get a sense for the quality in craftsmanship and the high-end design during the tour. The home?s notable green features include a Frank Gehry lifeguard station-inspired solarium, a second floor side room bathed in light that provides a perfect retreat. All concrete in the home has fly ash from coal-burning plants, which reuses what would have been waste. The lumber is engineered to use new growth versus old growth. For instance, the flooring is all luxe-looking, pre-finish bamboo, which takes less than a decade to grow versus tree varieties that are harder to replenish.
?
The master bath has recycled glass tile (in an elegant seafoam green), and the kitchen countertops are quartz with broken mirror, which creates a chic, modern feel. Mini-skylights, or sun tunnels, capture sunlight as well as offer traditional fluorescent lighting and thus substantially decrease electricity usage. Insulation and cabinetry are formaldehyde-free, paint is low VOC, and the exterior has actually been finished with recycled paint.
Going green has never looked so good.
??????????..
Pence Hathorn Silver, www.phsrealty.com
Residence: 533 23rd Street, Santa Monica
Diamond Girl Public Relations
Stacy Broff,?????????310.207.1434???????????
