Archives For sustainability

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More Green Homes: At What Cost?

Each time that we choose an avenue for how concepts of sustainability can penetrate deeper into the masses of American citizens we must look at the reciprocal costs of reaching such a market and making a green switch. A post on GOOD Magazine’s blog highlights a new spin on the direction of architecture as a way to tap into the large market of single family homes. The angle of designers David Wax and Ben Uyeda is to produce “stock” house floor plans for green homes and give them away for free, calling it Free Green. At first glance this may seem like a great way to send green knowledge through the society, but what is the real cost to our culture and the architectural profession? In this instance I broadened the scope of reflection by asking some other designers to weigh in on Free Green.

In essence, Wax and Uyeda use an advertising model to create a revenue stream for their business by showcasing the products of paying manufacturers in their home schemes. The plans can then be given away for free to a waiting marketplace of contractors and prospective homeowners. According to the designers, it is opening up greener designs to a group of people that are buying stock plans anyway, thereby allowing more green homes to be built. A seemingly noble endeavor.

“I think that the most positive aspect of this model that they are proposing is with the selection of the green features,” said B. Specketer, an architect working in New York City.

They take the guesswork out of the selection for the average consumer. The big question revolves around whether or not FreeGreen can be a trusted clearing house. Only time will tell. It’s a step in the right direction pairing product placement with a previously under-served segment of the homebuilding market, but what this means for architecture and architects is a different discussion.

As designed homes, their aesthetic success is a question of subjective opinion, but it is fair to say they are better than the standard options of Toll Brothers and their peers. Though attempting to achieve the draw of the vernacular by the use of cliché details and stylistic tactics, they achieve a level of resolution that elevates a composition above the baseline that most would fine from a prefabricated design. More so in their “contemporary” designs, a consumer can tell an architect was behind the scenes to figure things out.

However, Intercon focuses on the reactions of events and their repercussions throughout society and this model has a few potentially dangerous side effects.

As one could imagine, the greenest modern buildings in the world are created by architects. At the same time, the profession battles against a lack of public understanding for what an architect really does and why one is necessary. This is especially apparent in residential construction where only 5% of all single family home projects include an architect. Free Green undermines in this tenuous relationship of architect and potential client by devaluing design work and supplementing the cost with ad-space revenue. If this was marketed as only another source for predrawn plans then we could simply lump them in with the other 30% of homes built in America from stock drawings, but it is claiming to occupy some of the forefront of an innovative field of ecological building. Architectural designer S. Doyle notes the inherent risk:

Although these are the types of buildings which typically would not have had an architect on board anyway it is something to be considered that there is a danger of sponsored architectural plans becoming a viable business model where architects are trading intellectual property for exposure.

Put another way, a pair of designers are devaluing their profession so that they can make a quicker, easier buck. Instead of addressing the problem, they wash their hands of it. Intel could get faster computers in more homes in America if they gave away the schematics for their processors, but what would be the cost of value to their industry? With over 22,000 downloaded plans already, some have clearly already smelled the blood in the water.

How green are these homes? A look through their website uncovered the suggested use of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), heating and cooling products, materials like bamboo flooring, LED lighting options and low-V.O.C. coatings. While these are all positive additions to any home, one conversation with a green builder or some dedicated internet research could likely unearth most of these tactics. Doyle points out that “We aren’t going to ‘solve’ climate change by doing what we do know in a better way.” It cannot be said enough that green buildings are not just storehouses of technological gadgets, but designed with a new approach to function and efficiency.

Stock housing plans are also at odds with the idea of achieving sustainability via architecture. Every site, every environment for a home should have a design tailored to make the most of each resource opportunity. By its very nature a green home designed for Worchester would not be the same as a green home designed for Houston. This business venture is potentially misleading consumers into thinking that site-specific design is not inherently linked to performance.

Perhaps the most disturbing eventuality is the false sense of security people can assume after downloading these plans and building these homes, as if they have fulfilled their generational duty to the green movement when they have really only scratched the surface of what green buildings can become. An interesting comparison would be the savings of building a new Free Green home vs. simply replacing windows, a furnace (or air condition given the climate), switching some appliances and using CFLs and not expending the energy and waste on a new house. I imagine the results would be close.

Intercon does champion the goal of educating more people about what can be done to reach a more sustainable society but not at the expense of anything and everything. Is having 200,000 more home customers come into contact with a green concept worth harming the profession that is responsible for the realization of our greenest buildings? I have to say no.

Economic 
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Intercon

So what happened? Well after a bit of consideration I decided to hone the focus of this blog and in doing so change its title and direction. For those who saw the blog in its true infancy the title was a bit of a working one anyway. The more I thought about it the more I realized that we have plenty of “Holes in the Ground” where knowledge goes and never comes back. So why would we need another landfill of knowledge?

Instead, I think what we need more of is focus given to the connections between everyone of our actions and everything else. Our lives are not really media snap shots of isolated events but actually a vast network of existence intertwined in a countless number of ways. Perhaps part of the reason why find ourselves in problems is losing site of the dualities, the overlaps, the interconnections.

So to those of you that saw the original, I invite you to look around again. The following article attempts to depict a new direction of the site that will undoubtedly continue to crystalize over time. To those who are seeing the site for the first time, welcome! To all, enjoy Intercon.

Cultural 
0

Hydrogen Cars? Still?

I am not exactly sure why we are still hearing about hydrogen fuel cells as means to power automobiles. The east coast now has a hydrogen fueling station thanks to the township of Hempstead, New York and the gracious compliments of the New York State Energy Research Development Authority. This tune came off the charts not long after it got there and now it is just a disturbing reminder for those of us that try to lobby for investment in sustainability by the country.

Countless people have already conveyed that Hydrogen cars, or more importantly a hydrogen infrastructure, is not viable for our country.

“Hydrogen cars are a poor short-term strategy, and it’s not even clear that they are a good idea in the long term. Because the prospects for hydrogen cars are so uncertain, we need to think carefully before we invest all this money and all this public effort in one area.”

– Alex Farrell, Assistant Professor of Energy and Resources at UC Berkeley

Farrell also points out that the cost to raise the fuel efficiency of gasoline powered cars is trivial to putting hydrogen vehicles into production. So why are we still hearing about this, let alone why is $2 million spent on a refueling station on long island? Then again, we have graduated to a different power of spending. Next to $2 trillion, what is a couple of million?

One answer is that a number of organizations do not want to look like they have wasted time and money on a technology and that somehow being able to say “Look, we built some! they work!” makes it all worth while. The truth is that in today’s market they do not need to do that. If there are any upsides for the auto companies in this recession it should be that they need no better excuse to push things off their drawing boards right into the trash. At a time where R&D dollars are less easily spent, no one would cast any blame on shelving (we can only hope permanently) time and effort to fuel cell powered cars.

This is just one more reminder of the misallocation of resources by a former administration that really had no genuine desire for strides in efficiency and sustainability. Most likely, it will not be the last.

Via CNET

Cultural 
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Hybrid Trains: Can’t Have Them Soon Enough

It is good to see that a technology sorely needed is approaching fruition to the real market. Cleantech.com reports on GE revealing its first hybrid locomotive said to reduce fuel consumption by 10% and emissions by up to 50%.

GE Shows First Hybrid Road Locomotive

One could ask, “So how much is that really?” Actually freight trains in the US have remarkable efficiency. Reuter’s reported that in 2007 one ton of freight in the US was moved at an average of 436 miles per gallon of fuel! Adding 10% to that number is nothing to scoff at.

Railroad Fuel Efficiency Sets New Record

Of course, this is for freight trains. Word has it that Bombardier is developing a hybrid passenger system for European markets. While saving fuel and lowering cost of freight transport is positive, lowering the costs of personal travel is a culture-changing advancement. In America we struggle with weening ourselves from automotive travel. While some point across the pond at Europe’s success, we have yet to make the cost and travel time competitive with flight and driving. This is an important step.

Economic 
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We Could Lose a Posterchild

As the outlook of our nation’s financial system comes into question so too has the progress of our country’s acceptance of sustainability been slowed. While the government continually downplays any goals of nationalization, the market has clearly presented how far it is from being convinced. So what happens to sustainability if the banks fail? Well aside from the lack of funding to innovation in the green industry, Bank of America has risen to be a model for green business in the U.S. and a lack of financial solvency would be a striking blow when the movement needs their example the most.

one-bryant-park

As we speak the final touches are going up on Bank of America’s new corporate headquarters at One Bryant Park (See here for full building case study) on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street in New York that will complete the city’s most environmentally conscious skyscraper. Designed by Cook+Fox Architects and striving to achieve LEED Platinum status from the U.S. Green Building Council, the tower is a testament to what can be achieved when sustainability is considered a priority.

The building provided an even better example of emerging green acceptance because of the nature of the client. While so many people question the cost vs. return of building green, this was a bank, one of the largest in the world, that was convinced of the benefits of an ecological end.

While the financial hardships of BoA have nothing to do with the construction of their new home, the timing could not have been worse as greentech companies are watching orders dry up and prices of their products falling. As of today, the bank claims their financial position is good and will require no further money from the government. We can only hope so.

Architectural 
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Who Says What is Green?

In a time of falling prices it is more important than ever to secure the value of sustainability into its next stage of the business cycle. With oil prices near two year lows and a frozen credit market it is easy for priorities to shift away from environmental goals replaced by trepidation over costs. As green business becomes more prominent it is essential to develop more elaborate benchmarks and systems of authenticity to assure that companies with green claims are delivering all that is currently so easy to advertise. Without this level of accountability, the value of green in the eyes of consumers could fall by the wayside just when green business needs it the most.

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Cultural