|
|
Building Solutions
One of Mark Twain’s famous lines was, “Everybody always complains about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it!” Back then no one thought there was anything we could do, when in fact we had already begun changing our weather years earlier with the burning of coal, oil and gas. Climate scientists have proven that the resulting emissions have been accumulating in our atmosphere for over a century, causing global temperature to climb, polar ice to melt, and sea levels to rise; and they expect weather conditions to get worse as our fossil fuel addiction accelerates. Climate Change is our biggest challenge as a species, dwarfing all other security and economic issues (refer to Global warming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
At the same time, the cost of these fuels and their risks are increasing as resources become harder to find, adding to the energy crisis and damaging our economy. Gas prices have gone up more than tenfold in the past forty years, and oil spills have cost us billions of dollars, indicating the need to develop alternative energy sources as soon as possible. And since the energy we don’t use is the cheapest and most abundant of all, improving energy efficiency should be our highest priority.
Nowhere is this more important –or easier to accomplish- than in the buildings we occupy. On average, our structures account for more than 40% of total energy consumption, 60% of the electricity used, 12% of the water, and 60% of the raw, mostly non-renewable materials, while creating more than 40% of our carbon footprint[1] and providing indoor environments up to five times more polluted than outside.
Weatherization and energy retrofits are helping to address the inefficiencies in older homes, but there’s also a need to improve new construction. The more homes we build the old way, the more we will have to retrofit in the future. But if we start using Better Building techniques now, we can cut energy use and avoid the expense of weatherizing later, while also reducing the threat of fire, mold, termites, harmful gases, and even destructive winds. This becomes even more important when we consider the growing number of homes and lives lost to the worst of these threats each year.
Since 2008 we have also been trying to recover from the deepest economic recession since the Great Depression, resulting in massive unemployment and more than a 30% drop in home values[2]. This has lead to a reduction in the number of new households by more than 70%, from an annual average of 1.3 million from 2002-2007 to only 357,000 in 2010. As more people try to share the same living space, homebuilders have likewise had to cut production by 70% since 2005, with only 554,000 new home starts in 2010 – the fewest in any year since World War II[3]. As a result, the biggest job losses have been in the homebuilding industry, with employment falling by more than 60%. New homes are currently being built at less than half the rate needed just to keep up with population growth, which is why industry experts are predicting a housing shortage as early as 2012[4], raising prices and mortgage rates. The loss of thousands of homes each year to windstorms, floods and wildfires will only make matters worse, so the time to start improving the next generation of housing is now!
By building these new homes using high-performance technologies, we can simultaneously address all of these challenges, creating construction jobs to lower unemployment and stimulate the economy; making homes more energy-efficient and rugged to save on utilities and repair/replacement costs; and slowing or even stopping Climate Change to save the planet. Some people think that we can’t afford to do this right now, but the economic, safety and environmental consequences are such that we can’t afford not to! The key is to inform the public so they can make an educated decision to act!
[1] The High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus
[2] Businessweek, 9/30/10
[4] Harvard University, The State of the Nation’s Housing, 2010
Our Mission is to Help You Make Your Home Safer, Greener, More Comfortable, and More Energy-Efficient.
Whether you're buying, building, or remodeling, we can show you how to maximize the performance of your home, saving you money on utilities and maintenance, while reducing your carbon footprint on the Earth. The combination of efficiency, sustainability and quality simply makes this the smart thing to do.
If you plan to build your dream house, check with us first. With over thirty years of Green Building and Energy-Efficiency training and experience, we'll help you fine-tune your design, maximizng energy efficiency, safety and comfort, without spending much -if any- more.
If your goal is to remodel your existing home, come to one of our weatherization classes before you start. We can help you get the most out of your remodel, improving your home's energy efficiency and comfort. Then we can point you in the right direction if you need a professional energy contractor.
If you're buying a home, we can make you aware of its condition before you buy. Our Illinois-licensed subsidiary, RiverBend Home Inspections, will check the house for any deficiencies or maintenance issues, as well as doing preliminary testing for mold, carbon monoxide, or radon. And we can also check - and point out ways to improve - the energy efficiency, saving you many times the inspection cost over the years. Check out the HOME INSPECTIONS column on the left.
And finally, if your plan is to enter the retrofit industry, we offer state-approved auditing and weatherization hands-on training, in cooperation with Lewis & Clark Community College.
As independent educators and consultants, the only product we sell is our time and expertise, either one-on-one or in one of our continuing-education classes. We work only for you, analyzing your needs, then recommending the best methods and materials to fit your budget. In whatever capacity you need us, we are a member of your team, focused on helping you get the most for your money.
|
|