Make Buildings Behave Better
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.14.07
Professor Ted Kesik of the University of Toronto spoke at the OAA convention and pointed out that if every computer manufacturer sold sustainable green computers tomorrow, it would take only three years for the great majority to be green. If every car manufacturer sold only energy-efficient cars starting tomorrow, it would take ten years for almost all cars to be green. Yet even if every building was LEED Platinum starting tomorrow it would take a hundred years for the building stock to turn over.
According to the Economist, "The IPCC report looked at the potential for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide from all major culprits—including transport, power generation, general industry, agriculture and buildings. Despite all those exhaust-pipes and power-station chimneys, it found that the greatest potential lay with buildings."
The Economist discusses the reasons that buildings are so inefficient and continue to be built that way:
-developers save money on capital costs by shifting the burden of operating costs to tenants or purchasers;
-purchasers are more interested in location, size and appearances than they are in loft insulation; (which is why architects and developers can build residential towers with floor to ceiling glass walls with an R value of about 4- it looks great but watch out in ten years!)
-"Another factor might be called the “dimes-not-dollars” problem. Companies, even households, can pay too little attention to outlays on lighting and heating. Individuals often pay by direct debit from their bank accounts. Promotions are rarely won by cutting corporate electricity bills." ::Economist
air conditioner picture from Echiner1/Flickr via economist
I completely agree. Most developers try to build as cheaply as possible and sell as high as possible. They use cheap materials, cheap design, and poor but cheap and quick construction methods, and then they simply try to make the house look nice and big because the is what homebuyers look at. Most homebuyers are not architects or builders and know little to nothing of design, construction, efficiency, etc. What they do know is that is big and looks nice and that tends to determine what they are willing to pay. Developers focus on form over function because they know that customers will focus on form over function. Along with everything else mentioned above. Laws and regulations should be passed to mandate minimum standards and incentivize better construction, and consumers need to become better educated and informed.
Ditto Houston.
I'm sorry but I don't agree with putting the blame on the developer, making it sound like they pull the wool over the consumers eyes and we need big brother to stop it. Consumers buy the big McMansions because we have become such a materialistic society and the developers build what they demand. Why have so many newcomers arrived at the "green" table in the past two years who previously were not on the bandwagon? Pure and simple--oil prices--not greenhouse gases or the fact that the oil supply is finite. "Follow the money" is almost always the answer. As energy prices continue to go up, if it is not too abrupt it won't wreck total havoc on the economy but pretty much everyone will get "green". The end results will be good even if most of the motives are not necessarily pure.