The province of British Colum­bia can now boast that it has its first ENERGY STAR Qual­i­fied home, located in Nel­son, BC. Mag­no­lia 2300 (as it has been named) is the home of the own­ers of Man­dala Cus­tom Homes, Lars Chose and Rachel Ross.

There are many inter­est­ing (and green) fea­tures that make this home spe­cial. For instance, Ross and Chose rave about the ben­e­fits of liv­ing in a round home, a con­cept that is born in part from their inter­est in the green, slow home move­ment which stresses cre­at­ing homes that are healthy, com­fort­able, and gen­tle. [Note, how­ever, that it did not take them long to build the house as it is a pre-fab home, though this method ensured their impact on the local envi­ron­ment was min­i­mal.] They describe liv­ing in a round struc­ture as feel­ing embraced by the space, which com­ple­ments their cre­ative endeav­ours and feel­ings of tranquility.

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