Posted by Snow in 
Almost Green by James Glave is an amusing and wry look back of the shoulder of a culdesactivist a man who tries to give up the consumer home for the green effiency dream. Like Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, the author tries to get the best of everything. But the complexity of the task robs his of his dream.
Even with the best of intentions, suppliers vendors and workmen let him down. His banker starts to be his mental counselor. His ideals crumble because the skilled labor he needs at his price point has gone fishin’. The author is now in over his head, having embarked partway into an enterprise that will not return value until it’s completed.
This book has a black humor, if anyone can find it in their heart to find homeowner debt amusing. The travails of a would be green builder will sharpen the amusement and tickly the fancy of every home owner who has momentarily daydreamed about getting that dream house green. But who can afford living green in a green building? The theme runs underneath every paragraph of this book.
When the problems come thick and fast, he looks for the green pot of gold at the end of the tunnel. The ideological reward of living green, and multiannual recouping of the investment to get his house eco-friendly, is not quite the master planned project he’d hoped. The payoff horizon recedes and recedes as the problems build.
This book outlines the perils of full scale environmentally beneficial home design and what can happen when the scale of the project gets overly ambitious. The research is there, but all the good intentions in the world don’t heal the gap between finances and availability, labor availability and materials ease of use, and net sum gain.
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