Ecovillage development will require us to think deeply about the
impacts our buildings have on people and on the earth. We will need
ecological building methods, as well as new ways to arrange buildings
and public spaces to form communities.
By Jim LaRue The City of Austin, TX, has introduced the first city-endorsed
"green building" program in which anyone building with government
funds must demonstrate how they have:
* Made appropriate use of the land.
* Made efficient use of limited natural resources.
* Enhanced human health for builders and homeowners.
* Used non-toxic, local materials to assist the local economy.
* Preserved plants, animals, endangered species and natural habitats.
* Protected agricultural, cultural and archeological resources.
* Reduced total lifetime energy usage.
* Made the structure economical to build and operate.
* Demonstrated recyclability.
* Created a building that has a positive effect on occupants in the
working or living space.
A builder in Chicago is now building homes for moderate-income families
that have 2,000 square feet of living space, and he guarantees that
they will heat for less than $200 per year or he will pay the difference.
He has not paid out a penny yet.
The City of Austin and the Chicago builder are the upside in the move
toward "green building." On the downside, the National Association
of Home Builders Research Center (NAHB) has completed a study on waste
at building sites and found that the typical builder spends $511 per
house for construction waste disposal, which includes 790 pounds of
solid wood scraps, 458 pounds of manufactured wood, 46 pounds of sawdust,
154 pounds of cardboard, 1,788 pounds of drywall scraps, 155 pounds
of plastic, 262 pounds of asphalt roofing scraps, 133 pounds of masonry
materials and 21 pounds of paper.
These illustrations clearly demonstrate that homebuilders can take
many positive steps to create an environmentally friendly house, but
there is still much to be done. It is also very clear that until you,
the homeowner, decide that you want a "green building,"
it is not likely to be built. On the other hand, it is also clear
that once you do demand it, builders have been able to respond and
produce a product that is not much more expensive to build and, in
almost every case, is far less expensive to operate and maintain.
Strategies
If you are seriously interested in "green building" techniques—whether
for new construction or rehab— there are four basic strategies
to keep in mind. You should be searching for practitioners who can
provide them in your project. * Optimum-value engineering: While engineering
principles have always been used in the design of housing, there has
always been a tendency to overbuild and to not effectively use materials
in many instances. For example, wood frame walls are built with studs
as the vertical members and wooden plates on the top and bottom to
hold the structure together. The current practice is to use two or
more plates on the top. We now know, however, that if the floor-framing
members can rest right where the studs are, it is not necessary to
have more than one top plate. This change can save hundreds of feet
of lumber and actually helps reduce heat loss through the walls.Thus,
it is possible to design and engineer a solid house, while dramatically
reducing the waste products produced.
* Energy-efficient building:You really can build a house that heats
for $200 a year if you seal the building envelope (the exterior walls,
ceilings and floors of the structure), insulate the building envelope
so heat loss is reduced to a minimum, install ductwork that is not
leaky, and effectively ventilate the structure so there are sufficient
air changes for good health (without unnecessary air changes that
lose the heat you paid to generate). In such a house you need a far
smaller heating system, which requires much less fuel to achieve a
desired level of comfort. And such a house is cheaper to cool as well.
The technical know-how to produce such housing and retrofit existing
housing is available right now.
* Ecological building materials. This involves choosing building materials
that use the least energy to manufacture or produce, are most likely
to be recyclable or are already recycled, and are produced from an
easily renewable resource.
Would you believe that the construction of homes using bales of hay
to form the sidewalls is becoming a common construction practice?
Hundreds of them are beginning to appear all over the country because
hay is readily available in every part of the country. Moreover, hay
is cheap to produce, the simple act of harvesting is the manufacturing
process and there will always be a supply of hay. When covered with
a wire mesh and coats of stucco, hay bales produce a house with insulation
R-values in the walls as high as 50. The walls are also extremely
durable.
These days there are fewer and fewer big trees to provide lumber necessary
to create beams, rafters and joists. So a growing amount of this kind
of material is being made from ground-up wood fibers that, when bonded
together, create an incredibly strong piece of wood. In addition,
plastic bottles can be recycled and mixed with wood fibers to form
a composition material that can be used for decks and other outdoor
projects This material will never rot and can be reused or recycled
endlessly over time.
* Nontoxic materials and systems. Green building also involves using
building materials and systems that do not foul the environment or
harm the health of inhabitants. Over the years, the chemical revolution
helped us in many ways, but it also has produced chemicals that have
been used in pesticides and building materials that have made people
sick. The good news is that we have learned what many of these are
and have developed safer products to replace them.
We also have begun to reduce the number of unvented heating appliances
we have in our homes, which have contributed to personal injury and
sometimes death. We are choosing building materials that do not out-gas
harmful chemicals when they are hot and/or wet. We are adopting strategies
for controlling moisture and reducing mold and mildew growth and the
deterioration of building materials due to these organisms. And we
are manufacturing products that will not present health hazards in
the first place.
Whether you are building a new home or are thinking of making improvements
to your existing home, paying attention to green building concerns
will produce a better building, make for a healthier and more effective
living space and contribute to the sustainability of our natural resources.
Where can you start looking in Northeast Ohio for help with green
building? Unfortunately, we have a long way to go to reach the level
of resources available in a place like Austin, TX. In other parts
of the country, the driving forces behind such efforts have been environmental
or climatic concerns, such as water shortages, soil conditions, very
cold or very warm or very humid weather. We happen to live in an area
with plenty of water, a temperate climate and cheap natural gas. A
building scientist visiting this area once remarked, "You guys
can get away with a lot here because you are not dealing with any
serious extremes; if you wait long enough the problem will go away."
A bit overstated perhaps, but it means that anyone wishing to make
strides in green building is not going to find much help in official
governmental channels or through building industry organizations in
this area....yet.
-Jim LaRue (aka "The HouseMender") is a local expert on
home repair and remodeling. He was formerly the education director
of the Housing Resource Center in Cleveland. This article was originally
published in EcoCity Cleveland's Greater Cleveland Environment Book.
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