Celebs Greening Their Homes
by Rebecca Metz
Cate Blanchett is greening her Sydney estate
Cate Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton, are in the process of creating a greener space with their $10 million dollar Sydney mansion. The actress and her family have reportedly moved out of their home temporarily while Lesiuk Architects, a Palm Beach-based firm specializing in environmental projects begins work.
The nearly $1.5 million in green improvements will include grey water recycling, a 20,000-litre water tank, solar paneling and energy-saving lights.
Cate and her husband also announced that they plan to make green renovations to the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. They are reportedly in discussions with companies to make the building more eco-friendly and self-sufficient, including upgrades such as solar panels and rain water collection devices. Their goal is to have the theater generate enough power on its own to run an entire season off the grid. If they accomplish this, they would be the first theater company in the world to do so. Bravo!
Larry Hagman has the largest residential solar power system in U.S.
Larry Hagman, who was the hard-driving, tough talking J.R. Ewing of the hit television show Dallas recently shared with attendees of the Hollywood Goes Green conference his passion for renewable energy. While Hagman played an oil tycoon on TV, his personal home doesn’t use a drop of black gold. In fact, his 46-acre farm produces enough energy to power a more than a dozen average households. In fact, Hagman has the largest residential solar-power system in the United States — a 102.7KW array that produces 150,000 kilowatt-hours per year.
“Anyone that uses electricity in the next ten years will pay a tremendous amount of money for it,” said Hagman. His own electricity bill for his 46-acre farm dropped from $37,000 to $13 after his first solar array went online!
Hagman is turning his attention globally and is currently scheduled to travel to South Africa in 2008 with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) — a nonprofit organization focused on providing solar electrification and energy self-sufficiency in developing countries.
Realizing that affordable energy isn’t going to be around forever, Hagman is investigating alternatives from biodiesel to hydrogen. He emphasized the importance of increasing investment in renewable resources before we’re faced with a horrible crisis. We couldn’t agree more!
photo credit: Sydney Morning Herald