Soundproofing and Climate Change
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 11.30.07
Coincident with our coverage of Enermax, we find an article by Kevin Surace on how "New Approaches to Quiet Buildings Can Help Address Climate Change." He is not a disinterested observer, but CEO of Serious Materials, the startup that is looking to make a new kind of drywall without 90% of the CO2 or embodied energy. (TreeHugger here)
He does, however, nail the reasons why density and cities are so important: "If everyone in the U.S. lived in a condo, apartment or town home in an urban setting, we could cut potentially carbon emissions by 1 billion metric tons or more. That is approximately what Italy and the United Kingdom generate, combined."
Surace repeats the case for cities:
It turns out that moving back to urban areas could reduce CO2 emissions by 30 percent or more, since most people who live in cities also work close by. They take public transportation, walk or even ride a bike — taking millions of cars off the road every day.
And smaller urban dwellings also tend to be built more tightly, with more insulation, and heating can be very efficient....,The CO2 generated from the heating and cooling of condos can be 70 percent less than that from a single-family home. Likewise, the amount of landscaping to water is near zero (reducing CO2 emissions from pumping irrigation water to the home and also saving precious clean water)."
Plus, the amount of materials used to build a condo versus a single-family home can be 30 to 50 percent less, reducing CO2 emissions from manufacturing these items (actually a major source of CO2), as well as from transportation to the jobsite and installation time and energy."
He then continues to make the case that the single biggest complaint that people have in this environment is noise.
"If we are to affect climate change through urbanization (and we must), we also must deal with the noise issue directly. This isn’t about saving a few dollars or doing it the old way because it’s good enough to meet code. Instead, it is about significantly decreasing CO2 emissions while giving the home-buying public good reasons to move into and enjoy quality urban settings. They will do that only if builders, developers and building owners address their number one complaint: noise."
and concludes: "Save the planet…build a really quiet condo." ::Multi-Housing News via ::Planetizen
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is Your Kitchen Garden Toxic? 5 Ways To Fix Polluted Soil For Safe Homegrown Food
- Build a Greenhouse without Going Broke
- Can You Recycle Teflon Cookware?
- Meet Green Business Consultant Tyler Moorehead, of GreenUnlimited
- 7 Great Weekend Solar Power Projects
- Green Glossary: Planet Bike
The biggest source of noise in cities is from vehicles (especially those obnoxiously loud ones with modified or non-existent exhaust systems that whiz by at 2:30 in the morning) They also are responsible for kicking up all the dirt and releasing all of the pollutants that make for bad air quality, since most stationary sources of emissions (e.g. power plants, coal-fired heating systems) have either left urban areas or have been cleaned up.
Electrifying those cars and haul more freight and people via train is another good way to reduce noise.
Agree 100% -- the major disadvantage, as I see it, with living in multifamily, whether it's duplex, apartments, or otherwise, is the noise factor. I'm not interested in listening to the loud neighbors do whatever it is that they do.
And then we'll just have to tackle the ridiculous street noise.
At least in the city you don't have to listen to lawnmowers all the time. It's amazing how much of that there can be in a suburban neighborhood, the kind of place people move to for the quiet.
I've never used an electric lawnmower (cordless or corded) so have no idea how quiet they are, but when I did have a lawn my push reel mower was so quiet all of the neighbors were able to ask all about it! I had a small flat level yard, and it saved the hassle of refueling and NO POLLUTION.
Our present townhouse has the "wet wall" between the two units, so it is over a foot thick and we can never hear our neighbor.
FYI, a wet wall is where the plumbing runs, and is usually a bit thicker than a normal wall.