Catherine Wanek

Review:
“The Green Life” Ideas for Living Well and Doing Good from Sierra Magazine

The Hybrid House: Designing with Sun, Wind, Water, and Earth (by Catherine Wanek, $25, Gibbs Smith, May 2010):

“Catherine Wanek knows there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for eco-friendly houses, and explains that the defining element of a hybrid home is flexibility. So rather than providing step-by-step instructions, she employs beautifully photographed examples to illustrate the integration of green design and energy use. The tome, then, is more coffee-table book than how-to guide, but the message is clear: Not all green homes have to be made of corrugated steel and photovoltaic panels, and there’s no need to sacrifice aesthetics for the sake of the environment.”


Excerpt:

Here in the “first world,” our buildings use half of all the energy we consume. And energy from fossil fuels is taking us down a gloomy road of pollution, global warming and global wars over dwindling oil availability.

But fossil fuels provide energy, and we don’t want to live without power hungry 21st century technology. How can we use less energy, and still enjoy all the comforts of home? Create a hybrid house, of course.

Like hybrid cars, hybrid houses conserve energy with a different approach to technology, utilizing free energy from forces of nature. Not with complex technology, but with the age-old knowledge of solar orientation, thermal mass and wind power. Common-sense design choices reduce energy needs and operating costs. Hybrid houses get more "miles per gallon" with their smart combinations of design, construction techniques, and home-generated power.

Hybrid house designs also use the best of new materials and technologies, such as super-efficient windows and radiant heat, in combination with traditional building materials, creating healthy, comfortable spaces that people love to live in. Yet to operate, they require a fraction of the energy of conventional construction methods, with less environmental impact, and without having to cost more.

Hybrid house principles can be applied to building anywhere in the world, yet result in unique architecture, as designers respond to various climates and cultures. Just turn the page to see real examples of how people today are living low-carbon lives from an ecovillage in New York to solar homes in California, to a contemporary chalet in the Swiss Alps, built from jumbo straw bales.

Discover the design secrets of insulated thermal mass, which reduces winter heating to an occasional romantic wood fire. Learn how homeowners are enjoying $10 monthly energy bills with their grid-intertied photovoltaic solar systems. See how architects and builders around the world are creating innovative solutions to human habitation, which if implemented could lead humanity to a sustainable future.

Through our individual intentions, beliefs and choices, we each can be part of the solution. My belief is that a hybrid house is one step toward integrating human endeavors into the regenerative cycles of this living planet, and in the process, creating for ourselves a global Garden of Eden.