GOING GREEN: Sustainable homes such as “Mrs. Brown’s Lucky Oyster Bar” are open to the public on Saturday, September 30 as part of a tour presented by the Princeton Environmental Commission and Sustainable Princeton. (Photo by Jeffrey E. Tryon)

By Anne Levin

Most house tours open the doors to mansions that boast rooms done up in high style by interior design professionals. At a tour of five Princeton homes and two gardens on Saturday, September 30, a different focus is in play.

The first-ever Green House Tour, sponsored by the Princeton Environmental Commission (PEC) and Sustainable Princeton, invites visitors into homes where sustainability is the priority. They even have titles: “Mrs. Brown’s Lucky Oyster Bar,” “The Hello Sunshine, Goodbye Gas House,” “Leedin’ on Linden,” “Bloomin’ on Birch,” and “The Radically Radiant Retrofit.”

The goal is to inspire homeowners and renters to make their own homes healthier, more energy-efficient, and green. “The whole idea is to reach the community and let them see it is not necessarily out of their grasp,” said Lisa Marcus Levine, a member of the PEC. “We’re demystifying the idea.”

The event is free, but registration is required because a limited number of tickets are available for each tour. The day begins with a screening of four videos about some of the homes on the tour, at Princeton Public Library from 10 to 11:30 a.m. No registration is needed for the screening. The in-person tours follow from 12 to 4 p.m., with multiple time slots. Visit princetongreenhousetour.com to sign up for visiting the homes and garden.

“Princeton homes are responsible for about 20 percent of our community’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Christine Symington, executive director of Sustainable Princeton. “The homes featured in the videos and tours demonstrate how homeowners [and renters] can help us reach our emissions reduction and climate resilience goals while saving money over the long run.”

Levine credits the seed for the event to a tour of some green homes, designed by architect (and current Councilman) David Cohen and sponsored by the PEC, in 2014. “It was a brilliant idea at the time,” she said. “A few years later, people were really starting to get more interested in how they can have a sustainable house. I thought, why don’t we do what they do at the Junior League showhouses, but make the theme about sustainability? “

The idea sparked interest, but didn’t quite get off the ground. “So, it sat on the back burner,” Levine said. “Then there was COVID.”

Now resurrected and co-presented by Sustainable Princeton, the event is more ambitious in concept and scope than originally imagined. The video component was overseen by video producer Seth Mellman, who recruited Devan Sakaria from the film program at Princeton Day School and mentored him through the filming process.

While interior design is not a priority, the homes on view are imaginative as well as sustainable.

Of “Mrs. Brown’s Lucky Oyster Garden,” Levine said, “It is stunning, but in a very simple way. They prioritized a small footprint with a well-insulated envelope and a solar array, so they are carbon neutral. The couple that built it did a wonderful job designing a fresh, open interior, with cork flooring, a recycled glass composite countertop, and a few pieces of art and trinkets collected over the years to make it their personal space. It’s not a million-dollar interior, but it is stunning nonetheless.”

“The Radically Radiant Retrofit” is a work in progress, named for its radiant heating/cooling floor among other features. The “Hello Sunshine” house, which is in Montgomery, has a geothermal heat pump, induction cooktop, and a rooftop solar array with backup lithium-phosphate batteries. “Bloomin’ on Birch,” in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, has geothermal, solar panels, two-layer insulation, and more. “Leedin’ on Linden” is architect Kirsten Thoft’s house, and one of the only LEED-for-homes platinum-certified houses in town.

The “Livestreaming Yard” belongs to sustainable landscaping expert Steve Hiltner, who will be on hand to talk and answer questions. The second garden, titled “Tree Street Rain Garden,” was finished in 2016 and is a “point of interest” on the tour, which visitors can observe but not enter.

“We have over 150 people signed up so far, which is very exciting,” Levine said last Friday. “We can possibly reach capacity. Fifteen people can go in at a time for the tours.”

An additional impetus for the event is acquainting people with the PEC. “We want people to know they have an environmental commission,” said Levine.

Tammy Sands, who chairs the PEC, said, “The PEC is hopeful that the Green House Tour will provide the community with an inspirational learning opportunity. The tour is for all Princeton residents — homeowners and renters alike — to see that there are various degrees of change that can be made to create more sustainable living spaces.”