A look back at all the amazing places and spaces we can go to worldwide.

It’s time to look back at some of the fabulous, luxe, glamped out and gorgeous havens, hotels and resorts we’ve covered in Places & Spaces this year. Be it for for their standard-bearing eco-consciousness and innovative energy-saving, or inimitable style and originality (or, indeed all four), these hotels all merited mentioning. And now they bear ranking as our favorites.

Top LEED Certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

CityFlatsHotel, Holland, Michigan

This LEED Gold-certified hotel has eco-friendly features such as extra-thick insulating curtains, large windows for natural lighting, recycled materials and intelligent occupancy systems to save on heating, cooling and illumination when you’re not there.

Bardessono, Yountville, California
Made from recycled materials and using only renewable energy sources, this is one of only two LEED Platinum certified hotels in the world. Temperature control includes simple but effective blinds, while the rooms are large and the food renowned. Free wine tastings – as you’d expect from a hotel in Napa Valley.

Crosby Street, New York
A converted warehouse in SoHo, this was one of New York’s first LEED Gold certified hotels, with sustainable power, recycled materials, a vegetable garden and chicken coop on the roof.

Orchard Garden, San Francisco
Non-toxic paint and recycled building materials and carpets are some of the features which led to this Union Square hotel being the third LEED-certified hotel in the US.

Top Roughing It

Canvas Hotel, Norway
On an island in a lake, this yurt hotel is aimed at cyclists. After a day on two wheels, ease your aching muscles in a sauna, or portable bathtubs – pick your preferred soaking spot; wild swimming inevitable.

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These houses are big enough to hate, but are they green enough to get away with it?

The Edge (as in U2) is dabbling in the luxury real estate trade with plans of “build[ing] a cluster of mansions overlooking the Pacific Ocean,” in Malibu, California, per Business Week.

He’s seeking LEED certification for the mega-digs, but naturally the project is rankling some observers. The homes average 10,500-square feet each, considerably invasive for many green minded predilections. Critics are calling for the USGBC to step in and halt development, but the Council argues that it’s a state issue. The project is now at a standstill, awaiting a decision from California Coastal Commission.

We’ll do our best to keep you posted on the outcome. In the meantime, the issue of the mega green mansions of Malibu has got us wondering: by virtue of taking up so much darn space, are houses this big deserving of LEED certification and the associated tax breaks?

You tell us. In the meantime, let’s take a tour of eight jolly green giants, peeking inside the lifestyles of the green and famous (though just plain rich will certainly suffice).

EcoManor was built by Ted Turner’s daughter, Laura Turner Seydel, and her husband. It was the first 5000+ sq ft home to receive LEED certification.

Developer Frank McKinney sold his mammoth oceanfront green project, called “Acqua Liana” for the Fijian and Tahitian word Water Flower, for $15 million.

The 7-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 15,000 square foot house includes amenities like a 2,000 gallon aquarium, tropical hardwood floors (coconut, bamboo, palmwood, reclaimed teak, etc.), a movie theater, two glass elevators, three laundry rooms, swimmable water gardens and a whole bunch of other stuff that is way out of most people’s price range. It reads like something out of Places & Spaces, but I assure you: it is a house.

This Colorado abode is 9,800 square feet of eco luxury. It has four solar electric panels that produce enough electricity to run the home’s six refrigerators. The asking price is $4.5 million, a real bargain considering how cheap utilities are going to be.

Across the pond, on a pond, in Cotswald, England, the 2,400 square foot Orchid House sold for about $14.2 million. That’s about $6,000 per square foot.

It’s considerably smaller than the other mega-properties on this list and aims to generate more energy than it consumes through geothermal heating.

The following collection of houses comes from the prospectus of Windermere on the Lake, a private enclave of eco mansions in Stamford, Connecticut. For their part, the developers donated 25 acres of open space to the Stamford Land Conservation Trust, which abuts Windermere Lake, keeping the community bucolic and pretty.

The Westmorland

The Durham

The Cumbria

The Lancashire

Before you run out and splurge on a mega mansion of your own, first, a cautionary tale. Florida developer Jeff Ricketts set out to build himself a 10-bedroom, 12,000 foot eco home in an attempt to slash his energy costs from $1,500 a month to zero. When the St. Petersburg Times asked if building a smaller home would, indeed, be more cost effective and eco-friendly he responded that because his house was to be made out of renewable materials, it could always just be taken down and reused.

Sadly, his statement was not entirely true. Here’s a picture of Ricketts’ manse as it stood in the summer of 2010.

Neighbors call it “a monstrosity” and “an eyesore.” The city has no use or funds for it. Just goes to show that when it comes to green, in both dollars and sense, there is such a thing as overkill.

Images: Frank McKinney; CNNMoney; Web Ecoist; The Daily Mail; Windermere on the Lake; St. Petersburg Times

The post 8 Eco Mega Mansions and their Abuse of the LEED Certification appeared first on EcoSalon.

The evolution of windows toward sustainability.

It’s something you probably don’t think about very often – windows. They tell us a lot about a building, from its age and style to how energy efficient it is. An average home may lose 30% of its heat or air-conditioning energy through its windows, which is inexcusable considering how technology has improved since the first windows.

It wasn’t until the late 17th century that glass windows became common in homes. They were strategically placed and sized depending on geography and the sun (south-facing windows let in more light) to keep the home a comfortable temperature year round. Windows were small because glass was expensive and small meant less chance for heat to escape.

The current technology can be overwhelming and there are entire courses offered on the intricacies of the energy-efficient window. But suffice it to say that preventing air leakage, reducing condensation and increasing insulation are part of the package. Glass is stronger and thicker allowing for the use of larger slabs – entire walls can be windows. The Farnsworth House is a prime example.

Over time, windows have evolved from a mere hole in the wall to crucial components of a building’s energy efficiency rating. Here are a few of the ways that windows have changed for the better:

1. Stronger glass allows for larger windows. More natural sunlight helps regulate a building’s temperature, as in the new Virgin America’s new eco-luxe terminal at SFO.

2. Sealed window frames prevent condensation and air leakage.

3. Non-toxic gases (i.e. argon) used as filler between pieces of glass prevent loss of hot or cold air.

4. Double or triple glaze windows (storm windows) drastically improve insulation and temperature regulation.

5. Low-e glass coatings let in just the right amount of sun – because in warm climates we want the sunlight but not the heat, while in colder areas we welcome the sun’s heat and want to capture and keep it.

All of these factors improve the energy efficiency of our buildings and add credits toward LEED certification. And you thought windows were just for pretty views.

Image: dorena wm

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Is it possible to make great California wine in an unfriendly environment? Not according to Hall St. Helena, the first winery in California to achieve Gold LEED Certification.

LEED is an internationally-recognized green rating system that measures how well a building or community does in its efforts to save energy and water, reduce CO2 emissions, improve environmental quality and show leadership in the stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Hall won the prestigious award from the U.S. Green Building Council for its sustainable design and practices at its facility in Napa Valley. Among the features recognized:

“¢ Radiant Floors Allowing for Precision Winemaking and Maximum Energy Efficiency:

Radiant flooring allows HALL to control the facility’s temperature while conserving energy. This technology, accomplished by running cold or warm water through the floor slab, provides a energy efficient and stable storage and production environment.

“¢ Solar Energy:

The sun provides more than 35 percent of the energy needed to power HALL St. Helena. Solar photovoltaic cells (solar panels) on the roof tops of the barrel cellar and fermentation building convert sunlight directly into electricity. Approximately 42,000 square feet of solar panels span the St. Helena winery roofs.

“¢ Local Building Materials:

More than 10 percent of materials used to build the facility were extracted, harvested or recovered, as well as manufactured, within 500 miles of the project site.

“¢ Recycled Building Materials:

More than 10 percent of the materials used were made with recycled content.

“¢ Water Conservation:

Drought-tolerant plant species were selected for the winery landscaping which will reduce the demand for irrigation by more than 50 percent. In conjunction with this, all of the landscaping and vineyards are irrigated with recycled water. A 40-percent reduction of building water has also been achieved through the use of low-flow water outlets without compromising performance.

Cheers to Hall and its owners, Craig and Kathryn Hall for achieving their vision.  To celebrate this accomplishment, HALL is offering complimentary LEED tours daily at 11am through the end of August. Call 707.967.2626 to reserve your spot.

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