Tour Chicago’s Greenest Home at the Museum of Science and Industry
Step outside Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry’s back door and you’ll find a fully functioning, high-tech, modular, green wonder house. The project, called Smart Home: Green + Wired, showcases ways to go green, both major and minor. Inside the 2,500 square foot prefabricated home, you’ll find re-covered thrift store furniture surrounding a dining room table made from a slab of a fallen Michigan ash tree. The wall-mounted LCD screen controls not only the enertainment for the house but monitors the energy consumption of the entire house. Landscaping consisting of native prairie plants nearly eliminates the need for irrigation.
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In addition to such green staples as highly efficient appliances and sustainable building materials, the Smart Home seems almost sentient. As the sun rises in the morning, Smart Home clicks on the lights, raises the shades, and cues wake-up music. Did you have that extra piece of cheesecake last night? Smart Home knows! It reads your scale and transfers information to your computerized physical fitness program. If a cool breeze picks up in the summer, the house opens a skylight to take advantage of it. It is truly an impressive mix of technology and conservationism.
Smart Home will be open for tours through January 4, 2009.
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