It looks like Austin is about to get some green publicity:

Michele and Michael are now wrapping up an ambitious, $250,000 "green" remodeling job that friends warned them not to attempt in their first year of marriage—and they've done it with a film crew in tow. Next week the popular PBS show "This Old House" will start airing the eight-part series, a must-see for anyone interested in green building. It's a virtual compendium of ecofriendly design, from appliances (energy-efficient, of course) to Xeriscape gardening (with low-water, native plants). "It's the first time we've done a totally green project," says host Kevin O'Connor. "We hope it will inspire people."

Project Green: This Ecofriendly House, By Anne Underwood Newsweek, Feb. 5, 2007 issue

And not just green, bright green:

One thing the show proves is that going green doesn't mean sacrificing style. Architect David Webber produced an elegant design, including a beautiful second story with cathedral ceilings, using ecofriendly materials. A new deck looks like rain-forest mahogany. It's actually Trex Brasilia, a composite made from recycled plastic shopping bags and scrap wood (trex.com). Kitchen and bathroom countertops are IceStone—a high-end, terrazzolike material fashioned from crushed, recycled glass and concrete (icestone.biz). But as cool as these and other items are, says O'Connor, "the 'wow' moments in this show are not in products."

Bragging rights hinge on this: Michele and Michael are expanding the bungalow more than 50 percent—from 1,500 square feet to 2,300—yet the renovated house will actually cost less to heat and cool.

Sounds like a show that could have been written by Worldchanging.

-jsq