It’s indulgent and opulent, with all of the bells and whistles multi-millionaires expect from a seaside mansion in a wealthy Florida community. Dubbed ‘Acqua Liana’, this 15,000-sq-ft megahome has 8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 2 elevators, two laundry rooms, two wine cellars, a movie theater and a guest house. It’s also supposedly ‘eco-friendly’, with a state-of-the-art air purification system, reclaimed wood and CFL light fixtures. The home just recently went on the market for an astounding $29 million.
But isn’t the term ‘green mega-mansion’ an oxymoron? How can such a large home ever hope to be truly green?
Inhabitat caught up with the developer responsible for this monstrosity, Frank McKinney, and asked him some tough questions about the supposed greenness of his high-dollar creation.
The average American household consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. How much electricity is Aqua Liana expected to consume? Is there any way to quantify the energy consumption of the house?
Don’t know it in kW but I can tell you in terms of electric bill….for a 15,000-square-foot [house], $4,500 would be the average electric bill.
Our electric bill, when you combine the solar application, the inflated wall panels, the insulation in the attic, our electric bill will be hovering around 800 bucks. That’s a 70% reduction. It’s not that the folks who buy the house can’t afford it, but the footprint they’re leaving is no greater than a half a million dollar house that would be 3,000 to 35,000-square-feet. We’ve signed up for net metering, selling electricity back to the provider. January, February, and March we will have a zero electric bill. The home owner will be credited money toward their future bills. We love the evergreen solar panels. They’re great, they’re efficient, they’re cheaper. Efficiency when it comes to energy is where we’re headed and having an electric bill of zero is in the future.
Read the rest of the interview at Inhabitat and decide for yourself whether this gigantic home is really green.
As for us, we say HELL NO. It’s almost sorta got a green tinge. It’s greener than other excessive mansions typically are, that’s for sure. But a home this large can never be truly green. Sure, rich people who don’t give a shit about the environment are going to continue building ridiculously gigantic homes – and use massive amounts of energy all the while – but this is putting lipstick on a pig, if you’ll permit the tired expression.
Being truly green means using space and resources wisely. If this home were to be occupied by multiple families, putting every square foot of space to optimal use, that would be one thing. But how much do you wanna bet one spoiled couple with a couple chihuahuas ends up moving into this place, if it ever sells?
Link [Acqua Liana] + [Inhabitat]
Photo credit: Acqua Liana/Frank McKinney
