Ultra-Green Wired LivingHome is efficient but wastefully pricey

If you're looking for the house of the future you just found it: the Wired magazine LivingHome is not just some design concept, its construction has already begun. There's an old structure on the house's building site that will be torn down, and 75% of its materials will be reused to construct this factory-built LivingHome, whose one-day installation on the site will take place in August of this year.

The LivingHome will be filled with all the highest of tech, but will have a low impact on the environment. It will be built with only the most efficient green devices and materials, including a 4-kW solar power system, forced air radiant heating and cooling, ultraefficient LED lighting, power-sipping appliances, and mostly renewable building materials. The result? A house that's 36% more energy efficient than ordinary 4000-square-foot McMansions.

The catch? All this energy hyperefficiency will cost a cool $4 million. Here's a hint for you, green builders: Scale is back to 1000 square feet and it'll use a whole lot less energy.