*Energy Star* Sofas

My daughter brought home a science project to work on this weekend. She's 11, and she's designing a house on graph paper. I told her it looked great, and it did.  I couldn't help suggesting that the master bedroom might be the room overlooking the ocean, but she thought the kids' double-size room looked fine in the ocean-front location, and the parents would be happy just off the mudroom, near the kitchen so that they could easily fix dinner and snacks on demand.  Unsurprisingly, the house resembled our own not at all.  But it was thorough, well planned and looked to me to be almost done.

"Done?" My daughter was appalled. "If this was done, there'd be an energy-star microwave here, energy star stove, refrigerator, energy star sofas here and here, and the windows would be triple layered, the south facing light would go all the way through - I'm going to have to move this wall..."

She went on and on, explaining how her house would be energy efficient. It has to be, or she'll fail the assignment. (Can you picture the look? Duh! Hello Mom  - it's not like we're designing caves).   If she can manage it, she'd like her house to produce more energy than it uses. The gardens in the front will grow blackberries and blueberries and raspberries and sweet potatoes. The treadmill will produce enough energy to run the television. The roof will be covered with solar panels on one side and a garden on the other. Two windmills will churn on each side of the house - not visible from the inside, but benefiting from ocean breezes.

I'm still grinning.  Don't know - exactly - what an energy-star sofa is going to look like. But if my daughter's teacher has any say in the matter, a bunch of 6th grade students are going to be hungering to find out. Right on, Mr. Garrido.  These kids are going to shop for houses, build houses, and maintain houses differently, not just because they are told that times are dire, or they will save money, but because, as far as they know, "That's just the way it's done! Duh."

Of course, I'm not waiting for her to buy a house. I'm going to get her into the groove now.  Taking my cue from Mr. Garrido, I'm going to make sure my kids grow up in an energy efficient world. And that starts here. With this house.