Green living only for the rich?

Green building has become mainstream. More homebuilders are using local products to avoid the transportation costs of hauling wood and other materials from far-away locales. More are installing energy efficient appliances into the homes they build. They’re ordering earth-friendly paints and insulation. They’re connecting homeowners to solar panels.

But there’s still a serious gap: Residential green building is only available to those homeowners who can afford it. Those who can’t spend the extra money for energy efficient features? They’re out of luck. You might ask what’s wrong with that. After all, inground swimming pools and home-theater rooms are also available only to those homeowners who can afford them. The difference is green building is good not only for the homeowner, but for the environment. It’s something we should be promoting for everyone, not just those wealthy enough to afford it.

That’s why I was so excited to stumble upon Chicago’s Near North Apartments last year. The apartments, designed by a world-famous architect, bring green features to some of the city’s poorest residents.

Near North Apartments, developed by Chicago’s Mercy Housing Lakefront, features 96 apartment residences, 48 of which are reserved for tenants with limited incomes. The second 48 are reserved for residents who are disabled and homeless. In other words, it’s an example of what has often disparagingly been called an SRO, single room occupancy. Most SRO buildings are dingy and sad. But Near North Apartments is anything but.

Designed by architect Helmut Jahn, who has such buildings as the European Union headquarters in Brussels and the United Airlines Terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on his resume’, Near North Apartments features exposed concrete ceilings and magnificent views of the skyscrapers dotting downtown Chicago. But the building’s green features are what is truly impressive here: Near North features onsite power generation from solar panels and wind turbines. The building also relies on recycled water to flush its toilets.

Located on the edge of what used to be Cabrini-Green, Chicago’s most notoriously dangerous public housing project, Near North Apartments offers hope that the green residential movement will serve not only the country’s wealthiest citizens but some of its poorest, too.