Green Housing
October 7th, 2005 by Vihar ShethPosted in Environment, Housing
Rumor has it that a developer in Missouri is submitting a low-income housing tax credit application for single-family homes that will use solar panels to generate electricity. This is great for two reasons: (1) it’s environmentally friendly and (2) it helps subsidize utility costs for low-income families, who find a greater portion of their income going to utilities each year. This makes me wonder why more developers in America aren’t “going green” when building housing, or even commercial property. Granted, obstacles and critical mass may be issues but there’s precedent to suggest it works, even on small scale. A great article called “Better Homes and Garbage” in Sierra magazine shows it works, and works well. The project, called BedZED (Zero Energy Development), was created by an architect named Bill Dunster.
A small list of the interesting, and frightening, facts from the article include:
(1) 45 percent of the world’s energy is used to heat, light, and ventilate our buildings.
(2) In the United States, three-quarters of all lumber goes toward new houses, remodels, and repairs.
(3) Our homes were 38 percent bigger in 2002 than in 1975, despite having fewer people per household on average.
(4) Each year, sprawl covers an amount of land nearly the size of Yellowstone National Park, while drive times between work and home and for necessities like groceries increasingly eat away at our lives: The average American driver spends the equivalent of 55 eight-hour workdays behind the wheel annually.
(5) If the rest of the world’s people lived and consumed like that average American, we would need five planets to support them.
The development itself is built from sustainable materials and, according to the article:
Using renewable energy, it has the potential to satisfy all its energy needs. There is no net contribution of carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels and a greenhouse gas linked to climate change. When the fine-tuning of the site’s innovative micro power plant is completed this year, there may even be a small net export of green electricity to the national power grid.
I was a little disheartened after reading the following:
Though there’s nothing quite like it in the United States, ironically BedZED was made possible by an American. In 1862, while acting as ambassador to the UK, philanthropist George Peabody gave the city of London $2.5 million to build affordable, clean, comfortable housing for workers. The Peabody Trust now owns or manages over 19,000 mixed-income properties across greater London; BedZED is its most innovative investment to date.
I wish more things like this would happen in America. Passionate people like Bill Dunster exist in the U.S.; how to empower these individuals is an entirely different matter. Some efforts have been made and something similar might exist somewhere but a sweeping trend is yet to materialize. In the U.S., more than anywhere else in the developed world, exist powerful forces retarding progressive evolution of the way we conduct business (and live our lives). But, there’s hope to be had because of groups like the U.S. Green Building Council and others battling wasteful development, urban sprawl and just plain stupid decision making.
To learn more about the development, its benefits and to read an interview with Bill Dunster you can read the entire article here.
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2 Responses to “Green Housing”
By Natural Guy on Aug 17, 2007
Great post! Do you accept donations through PayPal?
By Vihar Sheth on Aug 17, 2007
I’m still setting that up, but that’s for considering it. I’ll hit you up when it’s set up!!!