Looking for a small place? A really, really, REALLY small place? Well then, you might want to consider this Italian getaway. For the low price of $68,000, this 55 square foot location can be all yours. You’ll get a tiny bathroom and a bed in a sleeping loft. They even manage to fit in a window!

OK, so it’s not terribly practical, but the location is amazing. The world’s smallest apartment is on the Piazza di Sant’ Ignazio and is right behind the Prime Minister’s residence. Who knows, it might be just the thing for a Roman holiday or sleeping the night away after living la dolce vita. Besides, think of the bragging rights that come with owning the word’s smallest apartment!

Image courtesy of The Telegraph.

One Project Closer has an awesome post about building, renovating and living in a green home, asking the central question, “How do you measure green?” Here are a few of their benchmarks:

• Water conservation
• Energy efficiency
• Resource efficiency
• Community and site impact
• Indoor environmental quality

The fact is, there’s no one measurement for green. There are a lot of things to consider. Are you just interested in a product’s energy efficiency or is it important how they treat their workers? What if something is made of non-sustainable materials but provides an energy savings over its lifetime? Or what if the “non-green” product lasts longer than the green one? Or if a local product is widely available and the green option needs to be shipped halfway across the world?

Lots to think about! What’s most important to you? What would you like to see as standards for green home products?

Photo courtesy of Stuck in Customs on Flickr

Laundry. It’s the eternal chore — never seems to be done. No matter how many loads, there’s always a mountain of clothing. And let’s not even get started on the folding!

With all the laundry being done out there, it’s no surprise to learn that most of us have room for improvement in this area when it comes to living green. Between using bleaches and hot water and drying every single last item of clothing, we’re due for a laundry overhaul.

Without buying an entire laundry room’s worth of new things, there’s some things you can do immediately:

• Cold water works great for washing! Please note that MayoClinic.com does recommend laundering sheets in hot water to kill dust mites and allergens.
• Hang it up! Buy a clothes line or a a drying rack and use it. In addition to saving money and energy, line drying will help keep your clothes looking great for longer.

If you are ready to make some larger changes, then the most obvious place to start is by looking at replacing your washer and/or dryer. The Green Guide recommends that when shopping for a washing machine, you look at ENERGY STAR ratings, water factor, top loaders vs. front loaders and programmable wash cycles.

For dryers, their recommendations are a little different. They point out that if your washing machine is energy efficient, that will help speed drying time. A good thing to look for however is moisture sensors — clothes get just as dry as you need them. And if you can hang on to your old dryer until 2011, you may have some options. The Green Guide says that “smart dryers” are “green machines…designed to use power only during the electricity grid’s non-peak periods. That reduces overall demand and the emissions from largely coal-fired power plants.”

And for some ratings on washers, visit Re-Nest’s round-up of energy efficient washing machines.

Photo courtesy of aussiegall on Flickr

How much water do you use? When you think of that question, you probably think of things like drinking water and showers. But there’s so much more to think about when it comes to your total water usage.

To help you out, The Green Guide from National Geographic provides a handy water usage calculator. It starts with the basics, like how many people live in your house and when it was built, and moves on to more personal questions like the number of showers you take and if flush the toilet after every usage.

And there’s a lot in the way of food that goes into water: specifically the amount of water that animals drink (if you are a vegetarian, you may well get a lower total water usage). Beyond that there’s appliances and shopping. Whew! It’s a lot to make you think, and by the end, you’ll be able to figure out your main water usage areas. If you’re ready to take the next step, The Green Guide will help you pledge to lower your water usage.

Knowledge is power, so go to the Water Footprint Calculator and learn!

Photo courtesy of Tanya Puntti on Flickr.

We’ve talked about bamboo before and its multiple uses–flooring, building, even clothing! And now: sinks. Yes, you can have a beautiful bamboo sink in your kitchen.

Charles and Hudson recently blogged about the rising usage of bamboo sinks. According to Charles and Hudson, the sinks have a laminated coating, so they can be used like any other sink. Plus they come in the option of over-and under-mounted.

What do you think? Is this a stylish green alternative? Or is the idea of a wood (actually, technically grass) sink just too weird?

Image courtesy of Charles and Hudson

The end of the Energy Tax Credit is coming soon and homeowners need to act fast to take advantage! The tax credit expires on December 31, 2010.  As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, this federal tax credit allows for energy efficient home improvements to receive a $1,500 tax credit. The tax credit is based on 30 percent of the cost of the product cost of the energy efficient product, up to $1,500. For example, a purchase price totaling $5,000 of qualifying products will receive the maximum tax credit of $1,500.

Windows and doors are a great way to use this tax credit! In addition to a great new look, new windows and doors are often made of energy efficient materials that can save money on heating and cooling bills.

Marvin Windows and Doors has numerous products that qualify for the tax credit, including our new Ultimate Casement with a unique wash mode. This beautiful yet tough window comes in a variety of styles, sizes and options to meet the needs of any home. And Marvin’s large product portfolio means that you can find any number of windows and doors to satisfy your design and energy needs.

Act fast and contact your local Marvin retailer to take advantage of this tax credit before it expires!

Our friends at re-nest have posted a very useful life cycle assessor. Looking at it, you realize that there’s a lot to think about when acquiring a new item. When you purchase a widget, it’s helpful to think about it all the way from the raw materials to its disposal. And there are other questions to consider too! Re-nest lists an extensive list, including:

• Are employees treated fairly?
• What is the typical lifespan?
• Is it recyclable?

Do you think this is a realistic tool? Or do you ask these questions for larger purchases, or maybe only for certain categories, such as electronics?

Image courtesy of re-nest.

Two recent articles from Twin Cities-based news site MinnPost have focused on the future of the urban landscape — on the suburban one, too.

The first viewpoint comes from Richard Florida, author of the book “The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity.” In a nutshell, he believes that when the economy recovers, it “will demand cleaner, more efficient ways of living, traveling, working and arranging our communities if we hope to climb out of our hole and catch the next wave of prosperity.”

Smaller homes and better, more efficient public transportation seem to be two of his main viewpoints. And this idea of transforming the way we live is important and valid and may come to pass.

But MinnPost also featured the viewpoint of author Joel Kotkin (“The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050″). His view is that the new green urbanism is a bit of a pipe dream. Partly this has to do with psychology: a large number of Americans will always prefer single family suburban homes to multi-family urban living.

But isn’t the problem of urban sprawl something cities are racing to fix? Kotkin believes that cities will decline in importance. Jobs and services will keep moving outwards to where people live, hopefully cutting down on time spent in the car.

What do you think? Which vision will take hold after the recovery? Will you find yourself living in urban mixed-used developments or suburban homes with picket fences? Or will some third building trend drive the recovery? Do you think stages of life affect people’s housing choices?

We’ve covered smaller living spaces before, but it’s worth another look.

By now we’re over a year into the current recession. Despite some green shoots of recovery, the future is far from certain. Combine that with a new interest in sustainability, and the footprints of new homes have been shrinking.

Inhabitat’s recent post on small house living features some interesting statistics, such as that home square footage has been steadily decreasing since 2007 and that census statistics indicate that newly constructed homes now have less bedrooms.

Obviously people are heeding the call of the recession and living in less space. However, that does not necessarily mean less money is being spent. As designers like Sarah Susanka have pointed out, quality over quantity can be very valuable when building or remodeling a home. For those that are building less house and putting on smaller additions for the sake of money though, the question is if this new-found aesthetic will last when better times are here.

Or we may continue to see smaller houses as people continue to want to live in certain areas. There’s only so much land, as Japanese builders have known for a long time. We featured this narrow house in a post a while back, but it’s getting some attention from NPR. Who knows? These ultra-small, super-innovative homes might become the wave of the future here!

What do you think of small houses? A necessity or a virtue? Or both?

There’s been a lot of ink spilled lately about alternative energy on a macroeconomic scale. But what about ways you can use these new forms personally?

It seems like every other cornfield now has been given over to wind energy. No doubt these massive structures can provide great benefit to companies and cities. If you wanted to experiment however, it was a little difficult. But now there are some options.

Looking similar, though on a smaller scale than the average wind turbine, the Proven Energy 2.5 kW 300 V Wind Turbine Grid Tie can be used for personal energy usage. As Luxury Housing Trends points out, it’s not cheap, but the company’s promise of their product powering a three-bedroom house (minus heat) might make it worthwhile over the long run.

For an wind energy option that provides less power but is small enough to go on the roof of your house, check out our recent profile of the WindTronics wind turbine, which was on display at this year’s International Builders Show.

Also via Luxury Housing Trends, we have a new option for solar power. It’s an easy, low-maintenance kit. According to the site, the Sunforce 39626 160-Watt High-Efficiency Polycrystalline Solar Power Kit has “weatherproof solar cells…made with an aluminum frame and tempered glass coverings to ensure that they’re durable enough to withstand the elements. This kit comes with two 80-watt polycrystalline solar panels, a 200-watt power inverts, a 30-amp digital charge controller, a voltage tester and a wiring kit with mount accessories included.”

Have you thought of using wind energy, solar power or other forms of alternative energy in your home?

Photo courtesy of nualabugeye on Flickr