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  I spent the morning going from venue to venue trying to get tickets to films that reqired them, most were sold out. It was a beautiful sunny day, something the DC area had not seen since the heavy snows a month earlier. Homeland security had raised the  threat level to Orange so there was enormous extra security especially around the whitehouse which had dyed the fountains green for St. Patrick's Day. The E Street Cinema was not far from the Whitehouse hubbub. It was screening this world premier movie, The Green House: Design it, Build It, Live It. This well made, illuminating documentary chronicles the building of whar was termed the first carbon-neutral house in the East and the designing of the first green show house in the Washington DC area.

The sold out crowd all seemed to know each other as they entered. Several members of the festival board were in attendance. Flo Stone, one of the original founders introduced the film's director Jason Scadron and the producer Viv Violette who had a few opening words. The film captures the process of building this show house from start to finish.

CharityWorks is a volunteer-led organization that unites corporate leaders, donars and volunteers to enable non-profits to transform lives. They decided to do this project as an educational and a fund-raising project. Knowing nothing about building or sustainability they brought together an impressive team. A developer with vision, West*Group, an architect with knowledge, Cunningham-Quill Architects, a builder with experience, GreenSpur, and 16 designers who took on different rooms. They also included community organizers and a rather famous environmentalist in Philippe Cousteau who consulted with the building team on te impact their decisions have on the planet. To quote Henry David Thoreau, "What's the use of a fine house if you haven't got a  tolerable planet to put it on"

The tear-down of the previous 60's era brick home was 97% recycled. The locatoin made walking to buisness and Metro possible. The size of the Craftsman style home (4500sq.ft., $240/sq.ft to complete) ruffling a few feathers in the audience at its zero-carbon claim. It's wine cellar, pool, spa, and "virtual golf room" also brought some eye rolling but it included geothermal air conditioning, solar hot water, photovoltaic panels (only 2.5 kw), green roof, native landscaping, low flow fixtures, rainwater recycling and Structural Insulated Panel System (SIPS) all added to the truly efficient design of the home that consumes 70% less energy per square foot than a comparable new house. I liked the butterflies made out of recycled beer cans on the wall that fluttered in the slightest breeze.

Most of the building team were present for the question and answer session after the screening and they faced considerable skepticism. I met and interviewed the couple who bought the home after it's period of "show house" where the public was asked to $30 to tour. David and Louise have promised to blog about their experience of living there but already the passive heating system went down for two days but the temperature inside only dropped two degrees. We will keep in touch with them.

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