KIDS : Taking Tour of Homes for a Green Education : The two houses in Sylmar and La Crescenta will show how families have created planet-friendly environments.
A great big electric train set powered by the sun would probably not be the first thing a parent would think to install in an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly home. But the Ted Baumgart family of La Crescenta did just that when they went “green” a few years ago.
When the Forbes family of Sylmar became environmentally conscious, they took a more practical approach and bought a solar-powered fridge.
In both cases, the homes reflect changing attitudes about our world. And some of that change is inspired by the younger members of the family.
“Today’s kids are the first generation to be raised ‘green’, “ said Baumgart, a La Crescenta designer who works in the film industry.
The Baumgarts, the Forbes and others will be welcoming strangers into their houses on Saturday, as part of the third Annual National Tour of Independent Homes on Saturday.
The Real Goods Trading Corp., an environmental, high-tech mail order company, selected the Baumgart and Forbes residences from among its customers for inclusion in the event. More than 100 such homes from Maine to California--the firm’s home state--are involved as exemplary planet-friendly residences.
They’re fitted out with various kinds of equipment such as photovoltaic panels, composting equipment, and other low-energy-consuming devices.
It’s sort of the Sharper Image lifestyle gone green. The homes on display Saturday are “little islands of energy independence,” said Glenn Forbes. He supplements his electrical supply by using a windmill. Meanwhile, his refrigerator, bearing the brand name Sunfrost, beats the heat by using the heat, in the form of sunshine, to power its cooling elements.
Parents visiting Forbes’ Sylmar home might have already learned as much about how this works from their children. Forbes has been explaining it to Valley school groups that have been going there on field trips over the years. Saturday is the whole family’s chance.
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* FYI: Kids and parents can glimpse an environmentally friendly future this Saturday. The welcome mat will be rolled out by a pair of demonstration homes on Leach Street in Sylmar and Mountain Avenue in La Crescenta from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call Real Goods (800) 762-7325.
