New Energy Codes for Old-ly Designed Abodes….
Oil...
It completely baffles me why we are even talking about oil as a resource when the most efficient resources in all of the galaxy are surrounding us 24/7, 365 days a year. And they're free. Free from economic costs, free from the costs of war, free from the costs of destroying the environment, free, free, free, free. And they are accessible to everyone. The earth provides insulation, the sun provides heat, the wind provides electricity...and all of these things can be used in combination to provide water. We keep looking for ways to find more and more oil...when we have some of the most abundant resources right at our fingertips and outside our own doors. Insane...
Sometimes I look at all the paved roads on the Earth and think that they're scars on a being that can never be healed...all made from oil, all used by yet more oil consuming products.
Anyway, a week or two ago about a hundred architects, builders, building inspectors, designers, mechanical installers, and even a few homeowners gathered in Hyannis for a preview of the new energy code update that goes into effect on July 1st in Massachusetts. I went as a rep for Horgan Assoc. Design/Build and for SunWindLLC, as Tim was in Pennsylvania prepping for work that would actually be beneficial to saving energy on a macro scale. The preview was one of those lectures where there's a large crowd, a presenter, a power-point presentation....and then the presenter reads exactly what is on every single power-point slide as he goes through them, one by one, reading every one right off the screen, word for word. There were a few discussions brought on by those in attendance, but most discussions I would say took place at each table amongst those sitting. The good part is that I don't think there was anyone in attendance who would argue that new energy codes are poor ideas or not needed. I think most would agree that the means of regulating all of the new energy codes are beyond erratic and excessive though. Energy Star seems to have their hands in everything now...including certifying gasoline-powered alarm clocks.
So we listen for hours on ways to update, upgrade, and improve all of the things we use in homes; appliances, insulation, windows, alarm clocks, etc, etc. It's all well and good. They're things that should be updated, upgraded, and improved, for sure. But the big picture here is missing something massive: this is all avoidable. These code improvements - and they're good, no doubt, and I'm all for them - are a lot of red tape, with a lot of hands involved in making them come to life and ensuring they are enforced. It's sad that that's the way it has to be, but unfortunately, ce la vie in our ways of life. But again, avoidable. We listened to the ways our furnaces for heating and cooling now have to meet an Energy Star rating - again, great - and ways that our mechanicals have to meet certain criteria and checkpoints. Each step of the way now has to be inspected and certified, and reinspected and recertified, and re... But all of the talk was geared toward - I felt - things. Better insulation, better appliances, better windows, better use of the fossil fuel resources we're currently consuming, more organizations to certify all of these things, more committees to inspect and enforce, more time spent inspecting and enforcing, and more expense passed on to the homeowner and client. But it's all avoidable. Why are we enforcing the things that are used in construction and not the actual design of the construction in the first place?
Passive solar construction - using the natural, given, and endlessly abundant renewable energy supply that the earth already provides us with in order to heat and cool our homes and buildings - combined with minimum amounts of renewable energies bypasses all of the needs to control the use of fossil fuel entities in our buildings. The greatest insulator in the world is beneath our feet, the greatest source of heat above our heads, and the greatest source of electricity is messing up our hairdos and blowing our loose paperwork around all day while we curse instead of embrace it. Passive solar construction increases the cost of constructing a building or home by....get ready....0-3%. That's it. Which scenario do you choose: You can build a home for $300-400k that runs entirely on fossil fuels and is going to last you about six years until we run out of oil and then...well...what then? Or, you can build a home for $306-408k that will last you forever, and will last your kids forever, and their kids, and their kids, and on and on and on...
Bypass fossil fuels. It's so easy. So insanely, ridiculously, easy.