| | Published September 15th, 2010
| Sustainable Lafayette Presents TomorrowLand
| | By Sophie Braccini |  | | Low-flow faucet by Grohe is available in several styles Photos Doug Kohen |
What will the sustainable home of the future look like? Visitors to this weekend's Lafayette Art and Wine Festival will have a chance to gaze into the crystal ball by stopping by Sustainable Lafayette's TomorrowLand.
TomorrowLand is a home-like exhibit with a family/living room, kitchen, bathroom, outdoor space, and transportation zone; each area will be loaded with products, samples, and ideas that use energy, water, and waste more efficiently; all to ensure that the home of the future is far more environmentally-friendly than the typical suburban home of today. 'Sustainable Man' will be in the house to answer questions.
The TomorrowLand display will be front and center at the Festival, across from the Round Up. In each of the mock-home areas, techniques and materials will be displayed for visitors to look at, touch and ask questions about. "In the booth visitors will see different types of sustainable floorings and counter tops, a 'no garbage' kitchen, electronically monitored energy saving devices, ultra efficient smart appliances, built-in grey water collection, whole house energy management systems, sealed crawl space and many more real systems and props," says Sustainable Lafayette co-founder Steve Richard.
"It will probably take at least ten years for the rest of the world to catch up with all this, but everything is already available here in Lafayette," states Lafayette Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jay Lifson, "we are lucky to have such innovative people in our community."
"We've done extensive research on how the concept is viewed all over the country," says Richard, adding that the display would not be possible without the sponsorship of Mechanics Bank. "Our bank has been sponsoring the Festival for many years," says office manager Debbie Cooper, "This year we wanted to support a local non-profit. Sustainable Lafayette, that brings awareness about sustainability to residents and businesses, is a perfect choice."
The project is the result of collaboration between Lifson, Richards, Cooper, and other partners such as Leila Douglah, of Douglah Designs, and James Wright of Net Zero Energy Architects.
In addition, Lafayette Tree and Landscape will create a 10x10 sustainable garden of the future with rain water collection, composting, smart irrigation, solar lights, solar oven, native plants and a wind turbine. A personal care section will present products that people will use routinely and that are already available today. "We have been working with local business owners to carry out the display," says Richard, "including Terry Ring Construction, Inc., C&M Party Props, Nerd4Rent, Dolan's Lumber, Moraga Hardware & Lumber, Diablo Foods, Open Sesame, Sharp Bicycle, Blodgett's Floor Covering, and Springwood Builders."
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 | | Recycled glass countertops by Icestone come in numerous colors. | | | | | | | | | | | Advertisement | | |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA