‘Green’ Homes for the Rest of Us

The Home Design Issue (Sept. 25) has left me baffled. Few people build new homes, let alone tear down an existing home to build a “green” contemporary-styled one. I certainly don’t have that kind of money. The issue would have been far more interesting and useful if it had described ways in which a typical homeowner can economically convert an existing home into an environmentally friendly one. Are you writing for your advertisers or your readership?

Karen Norris

Van Nuys

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It’s good to see that architects are taking a serious look at environmental concerns when building homes. But in doing so, another environment is being wantonly purged. Quaint neighborhoods in Santa Monica, Culver City and “increasingly upscale Abbot Kinney” in Venice are turning into anonymous streets full of large, ugly, energy-efficient cubes whose staggering prices drive out people who love, but can no longer afford, to live there. Why can’t environmentally sound design honor and blend with the historic?

Paul Kenedy

Via the Internet