Again, there was a lot of inspiring green building news this week. I have compiled a few here and tweeted the rest.
> For 30 years, I have been wanting solar written into building codes. I never understood why new homes and subdivisions were being built with no consideration of the sun’s power. I lived in northern New England back then, too, and our heating bills were astronomical. Solar worked for me there, but it never caught on, even though it seemed like a sensible idea.
Here in New Mexico (and Arizona, where I have lived), I have NO IDEA why solar is not a requirement in building codes! The sun shines most days, and solar-on-every-roof or south-facing windows could cut emissions drastically. Although communities are beginning to implement greener codes (Taos, NM being one), solar is not a requirement. It should be! Dan Chiras agrees.
> For all the talk about the Olympics being green, I am not convinced. The energy to create the venues, the air travel of thousands of people from around the world, snow being flown in – wow, what energy suckers! There is a bit of saving grace, though, in Millenium Waters, the Olympic Athlete’s Village, a LEED Platinum Certified neighborhood! The entire neighborhood was certified as well as each building it it. I’m not sure how much of the Olympic carbon footprint this offsets, but it’s a wonderful example of a green re-use of an old industrial site. After the Olympics, it will be mixed use/residential property – I’d be honored to live there!
> Several years ago, a friend of mine bought a beautiful piece of mountain land about 15 miles from town. He intended to build a green home on it, then gas prices skyrocketed. Being a solar/renewables/eco advocate, he wanted to walk his talk and balance out the cost of commuting. We brainstormed about building, and thought a house that took less energy to build, run and maintain could offset his car use. We joked about building entirely from scraps – pallets, scraps of wire, cardboard, old clothes, and so on. We pushed it to the extreme, knowing full well we were just entertaining ourselves at the time. Well, someone else did it!
> As a Realtor®, Certified EcoBroker® and green home enthusiast extraordinaire, I would love to see a requirement that a home get an energy audit and a minimum HERS rating before being sold. This is a contentious topic, because of the cost to the seller. The audit costs a few hundred dollars, and improvements could cost a bundle. I said ‘could.’ I overlook the financial cost of it, though, and move to the big picture. If every home had to have an audit and minimum HERS rating, then every home eventually would be energy efficient. Does this make sense to you? It does in Australia! What is wrong with us?! This is a multi-faceted topic with all sides being passionate, but I will applaud the Town of Taos, NM for passing a High Performance Building Ordinance last year. It’s a start.
