May 20 2008 9:11AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |
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This past weekend I visited the self-proclaimed "Chicago's Greenest Home," the Smart Home built on the grounds of the Museum of Science and Industry. I'm a member of the museum, so I went as just part of a regular tour group.

Let me say this right up front: I was very excited when I heard MSI was doing this. What a great way to promote green to the thousands of people who visit this museum every year. I still think it's a good idea, but if my tour was representative of what the average visitor will get, I fear this will do more harm than good to the idea of green construction.

What I'm worried about is that not enough was done to explain the ability to make little changes to make a home more "green." Instead, we saw a great model of a very green home, but I think it could easily be overwhelming for people not familiar with the concepts. The impression was that we all need to be living in these ultra-green homes. 

With a $500,000 pricetag (before you buy the land) that idea will turn-off a lot of people. Here's what I overheard one woman say to another as they walked out ahead of us: "See, that's why I'd never do any of this green stuff. $500,000 for a two-bedroom home? Who can afford that?" Not exactly the reaction we're going for here, me thinks.

I do want to say one more thing. A big part of the problem may have been our tour guide, who seemed to have a cursory knowledge, at best, of green and construction. I was literally dumbfounded from the very beginning when he was talking about the home's cutting edge windows and explaining that what made the glass so special was that it "has two panes with argon between them," while "most windows are single-pane." Yikes ...  

The exhibit only opened a week ago, so I can only hope they improve their game.

I'm curious what others think about this. If you've visited the home, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I know others who plan to go as well and I'll let you know what they think after their visits, too.