The i-house Paves The Road For Truly Green Living

Green building reaches a new high with the i-house. A trailer at heart, the i-house is the latest in pre fab housing. There are several two basic layouts to choose from, one bedroom and two bedrooms, with optional flex space. The flex space can add up to two more bedrooms and one more bathroom. The i-house comes standard with high levels of insulation, energy efficient windows, water saving dual flush toilets, and all are labeled energy star ready! You can also choose from a list of energy efficient optional features such as solar panels, digital programmable thermostat, and GE stackable washer and dryer. These houses are on the pricey side, seeing as they technically are trailers. To have one built and shipped to Cypress, TX I would pay over $103,000! And that’s just for a standard 2 bedroom with no extra features! For $100,000 I can buy a standard 3-4 bedroom home with a garage and an average of 5 times more space, but no one said going green was cheap. Another downside, these houses are all identical. The only difference between any two is where the flex space is positioned. The biggest problem that I can see is the flex space is not attached to the main house. It would be great to use as office space or a ‘mother in law house’, but I couldn’t see allowing children or teenagers to use it for bedroom space. All in all, the i-house is a great idea, for it is truly green, but I don’t see it being practical for families with more than one or two children. This is a step in the right direction though! As it gets easier to go green, more and more people are doing it.