Quote of the Day: SUVs Without Wheels
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.26.08
Scott Olson/Getty Images News
Stan Cox of the land institute points out that we will be paying the price in CO2 for the "mass-produced McMansions bulked up on low-interest steroids" for years to come.
"The long-term effect of titanic houses parallels that of SUVs and pickup trucks. Sales of the biggest and least efficient vehicles might be ebbing, but those that have accumulated over the past decade will be out there by the millions, belching pollutants, for years to come.
And American families will be living in, heating, cooling and powering their current fleet of SUVs without wheels not for years, but for decades.
The economy will eventually shake off its post-bubble hangover and move on to new crises. The bigger challenge will be cutting carbon emissions deeply enough to avert catastrophic climate change. To meet that goal, one thing we will have to do is yank excessive square footage out from the tangle of current housing problems and declare it a luxury whose ecological costs we can no longer afford." ::Common Dreams via ::Archinect
There's even a whose problem in some Canadian cities. People are buying houses in desirable areas that are small maybe built in the eighties just to knock them down and build a McMansion. Land prices are so high in Calgary its happening all the time. All the community boosters get awards for this kind of thing. What a warped world we live in.
One word: retrofit.
I live in metro Boston where many fine (and huge) old Victorian homes have been converted into multi-family homes (condos). Perhaps the environmentally disastrous McMansions of this decade will also have a more eco-friendly future as multi-family dwellings?
Large can be responsible too. My 8000sf McMansion has 6 zones, R55 insulation , a whole house fan and high efficiency windows. My heat/ac bill are the same as my previous house which was 1/3 the size. Make an effort to help people invest in products that are earth friendly and give enjoyment. Dont attack prosperous people for enjoying their success.
I don't think it's attacking people from enjoying their money!! Take a look around, how many people put the thought you did into their enormous mansion. For the most part, they are energy hogs - similar to inefficient SUVs as gas hogs. Building whatever someone wants to build without even considering alternative methods - at LEAST renewable energy is very selfish if you have the money to do it.
Jimod, well I guess we can say you have a Hybrid Hummer then?
If your current house bills are the same as your old house bills but the new house is super efficient compared to the old one, imagine how much environmentally friendly your house could have been.
On a side note, I find it hard to understand the need or want to make yourself a mcmansion. I guess its part of vanity.