Green Home Demo on Tour

Coming to a city near you, Better Homes and Gardens Living Green Tour will feature USGBC speakers

By Doug Smeath, U.S. Green Building Council
Images courtesy Better Homes and Gardens/BHG.com

Going green at home is an ongoing process, a process that gets easier and easier the more you learn about it. And there is a lot to learn. How do I select the most environmentally responsible products to use at home? What should I consider when buying appliances? Are there toxic items in my home right now that I’m not even aware of?

Often, the key to really wrapping your mind around important green home strategies is to see them in action. And you’re in luck: The 2008 Better Homes and Gardens Living Green Tour is making the rounds at home and garden shows around the country, with a green demonstration home in tow. Download the demonstration home’s floor plans and an artist’s rendering (PDFs).

Tour dates:

• Hartford, Conn., Connecticut Home Show – Feb. 29 to March 2
• Greenville, S.C., Southern Home & Garden Show – March 6-9
• San Francisco, Macy’s Flower Show – March 21-22
• San Diego, Home Design & Landscape Expo – April 4-6
• Las Vegas, Home & Outdoor Living Show – April 25-27
• Los Angeles, Home Remodeling Show – June 27-29
• Phoenix, Maricopa Home & Garden Show – Aug. 1-3
• Houston, Home Show – Aug. 8-10
• Miami, Home Design & Remodeling Show – Aug. 29-Sept. 2
• Nashville, Home Decorating & Remodeling Show – Sept. 5-7
• Boston, Home Show – Sept. 12-14
• Washington, D.C., Remodeling & Home Décor Show – Sept. 26-28
• Jacksonville, Fla., Home and Patio Show – Oct. 2-5
• Atlanta, Home Show at Convention Center – Oct. 17-19
• New York, Vanderbilt Hall Exhibit – Oct. 30-31

“For more than eight decades, Better Homes and Gardens has covered the American home for its readers – and readers have always wanted to know how they can make their homes more efficient, healthier, comfortable and attractive,” said Kitty Morgan, executive editor of Better Homes and Gardens. “So we’ve always covered things ‘green’ – though the terms might have been different. During the Depression, we offered tips that would be called recycling today; in the 1970s, we showed how solar power might work in the average home.”

At each show, representatives of the U.S. Green Building Council will be on hand, holding sessions to answer questions and discuss green homes, the LEED for Homes green rating system and examples of real-life local green homes. They will also be able to direct you to local resources who can help you build a green home, give your home a green renovation or green your lifestyle.

The Better Homes and Gardens green demonstration home features a number of green features, including repurposed furniture, green appliances, efficient windows and other green strategies. Representatives at the shows will give product demonstrations and show you how a green home actually works when you’re living in it.

“Today it’s even more important that we cover the green home for our 7.6 million subscribers,” Morgan said. “The need to think green hits them every day: When they get their utility bills or fill up at the gas pump, they are hit with the realization that resources are limited – and that fact affects their pocketbooks, the environment and their children’s future. There is also simply the bewildering amount of green talk and greenwashing in the marketplace, and readers want to know whether they should buy organic, whether green products perform as well as conventional ones, whether they can get the same beautiful look with a sustainable material as with one that’s not.”

And Morgan said the green home information the tour and demonstration home will offer is for everyone, not just people who have committed to giving their lives a major green makeover.

“Very few of our readers will ever build a home from scratch – let alone an entirely green one – but they can pull ideas from what’s being built green today,” she said. “They will buy homes, new or not, and they will renovate, and they will change out appliances and change up their decorating. At each of these junctures, we want to help them make decisions that work for their lives.”