Originally aired on December 3, 2007.
Tom Fudge: Today, “going green,” in concept at least, seems to be as American as apple pie. But very few people really know how to bake a good apple pie and not very many Americans really live in a green way. You can apply that general rule to the homes we live in. Today's homes are, in large part, a reflection of recent decades when heating and electricity have been plentiful and cheap.
But architecture is slowly moving in a more sustainable, ecologically sensible direction. Sometimes going green means installing technology that may be expensive or difficult to find. But in other ways, it just means building in a way that makes sense, given the climate and landscape we live in. As one of our guests puts it, so called new green ideas are really old common sense ideas that date from a time when resources were more scarce.
Guests
- Kevin deFreitas , architect whose Point Loma residence has been recognized for its design by the United States Green Building Council .
- Scott Anders, director of the Energy Policy Initiative Center at the University of San Diego School of Law . He rebuilt his home, which burned in the Cedar Fire, with the goal of making it as energy efficient as possible.
