The 15,000-square-foot green home

I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating: You can’t really call a home environmentally friendly if it’s the size of a small country.

Homebuilders today are latching onto the green-building trend. Everyone wants to claim that they build homes that are models of sustainable, earth-friendly living. Well, some builders are actually doing that, building actual green homes. Others? They’re building mansions and slapping the environmentally friendly tag on them.

There’s nothing wrong with mansions, I suppose. But have the guts to call a 6,000-square-foot-plus home exactly what it is: Big, and not really green.

I was reminded of all this when I read my local weekly paper. There, on the front page, was a headline trumping the area’s newest “green” home. I flipped to the story, and here’s what I saw: This “earth-friendly” home actually totaled 15,000 square feet of living space. Yes, 15,000. I don’t care how many geo-thermal units or solar panels you stick on a property, you can’t call a 15,000-square-foot home environmentally friendly. It’s just too large, too gaudy and too frivolous.

Yes, frivolous. Nobody needs to live in a 15,000-square-foot home.

This “green” home also included a massive home theater. Think all that theater equipment that had to be trucked in is good for the environment?

I’m not a perfect environmentalist. I’m often tempted to use paper plates to avoid having to wash dishes. I have been known to leave my computer on all night. But I’m also not a phony. And I’d never call my 15,000-square-foot home — complete with four bathrooms (Do you ever need four bathrooms?) — an example of environmentally friendly construction.

Again, build your giant homes if you want. But don’t pretend that you’re an environmentalist while doing it.