from the ground up - The Tyee

Excerpts from the ensuing discussion in The Tyee’s comment section:Green needs to be affordable to be widely adoptedposted by “rhea” on January 26, 2011While stories like this are really great for lettingpeople know what the ultimate possibilities are, thecost of building a house like this is out of reach formost families, so they are likely to simply discountthe entire thing as being “too expensive” or “greenwash”.Same reason so many people don’t buy superenergy efficient windows or heating systems. Eitherthat or building codes are so restrictive that really efficientand cost effective buildings are not allowed (likehttp://earthship.com).It is very possible to build a highly energy efficienthome for the mass market. It’s also possible to encouragepeople to build and renovate green throughthe use of incentives. Look at how many people tookadvantage of the homeowner grant or the energyefficient grant. Changing building and tax codes tomake green building and renovating cheaper thantraditional renovations would do a lot more to solveclimate change than setting a standard too high formost people to achieve in the current market.What a lot of green cheerleaders miss is the fact thatwe have a lot of existing housing stock that’s notgoing away right now. We’re not going to tear downall the 50’s neighbourhoods to build passive houses.What can be done is to change taxes, codes and practicesto ensure that it’s cheaper to renovate this housingstock and make it as efficient as possible than tokeep building new McBurbs with crappy construction.Where new construction is put in, THAT should beheld to a higher standard.Some things I’d like to see:1) Permanent and significant tax breaks on all energyefficient upgrades and new builds2) Energy efficient windows and heating etc. requiredin all new construction3) Public education, tax breaks and support for solar,wind and geothermal power4) All new construction required to incorporate solarpower, water conservation, geothermal heating andcooling or heat pumps where practical5) Less emphasis on building cookie cutter developmentsthat look exactly alike and perform like crapand more on building or renovating to a higher standard.There’s tons more, but those are what I can think ofright now.Re: Green needs to be affordable to be widelyadoptedposted by “Bytesmiths” on January 26, 2011I agree that you have to be able to make an economicjustification, but I disagree that “green needs to be affordableto be widely adopted.”Rather, what is needed is a public education campaignto convince people that, in the long term, investingin a low-energy house is probably the best economicdecision they will ever make.The basic problem is that we’re trained to make stupidcomparisons based on current prices. With comingcarbon taxes, “peak oil,” and the spectre of millionsof electric cars driving up electricity prices, it seemsa no-brainer to do whatever you can to reduce yourhome energy needs NOW!Consider that if you wait, the cost of the energyimprovements in going to go up in lock-step with thecost of energy. That will leave you “behind the eightball,” since you’ll not only be paying more for the energybetween now and when you decide to improve,but you’ll also be paying more for the energy upgrade.Low-energy homes are ALWAYS going to cost more.The tough job ahead is to convince people that thecost is worth it.48