Cover house really green

It's unfortunate that the Hook chose to feature a photograph for its cover story on SUV houses ["April 14: McMansion expansion: Is the SUV of home here to stay?"] an Albemarle County house that is quite the opposite of the houses you refer to in your article.

The house you featured in your photograph is currently being built by Shelter Associates for an owner who is showing a concern for the environment which is laudable.

The house, designed by Meriwether Felt, A.I.A., from Denver, will include a geothermal heating and cooling system, southern orientation for passive solar gain, long overhangs on the south to prevent summer solar gain, the best insulation specifications available today, a substantial recycling area, and, finally, photovoltaic panels on the garage with the intent to almost zero-out electrical energy consumption.

Not an SUV, more like a the best of today's hybrids.

Bruce Gordon
Shelter Associates Ltd.