Lloyd Alter on Treehugger is upset at a winner of this year’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) award:
There is no question that Olson Kundig has designed a beautiful house, and written a brilliant award submission. But is it really setting the standard in sustainability? I don’t think so.
Thousands of people have been living off-grid in the desert for decades, usually sucking propane for heating and power. Modern technologies like efficient solar panels, big battery packs, LED lighting and heat pumps have made it possible to live better electrically off-grid with zero carbon, but it is not with zero impact. That is a lot of hardware, needed to power a lot of house. If this is, as COTE suggests, “a new model for the sustainable single-family home” then we are in a lot of trouble.
Perhaps the Committee lacks expertise?
