Eric Garcetti's 11-year-old Toyota Rav4-EV sits in front of the house, awaiting its next electric fill-up.

Building green can be a challenge to really pull off—not to mention afford—but as the following seven houses from our pages show, the payback is huge.

Los Angeles is not all mini-malls and highways. As Eric Garcetti, president of the City Council, shows, it is eminently possible to live green in the City of Angels.