from the ground up - The Tyee

Excerpts from the ensuing discussion in The Tyee’s comment section:Resolving B.C.’s ongoing decades-old ‘leaky condosyndrome’ BESTposted by “ASKBiblitz.com” on April 1, 2011Taxpayers shouldn’t even LISTEN to these selfappointedmo’feshnuls wax bafflegab on experimentalbuilding technologies when the truth is that B.C.architects/engineers/homebuilders cannot yet reliablykeep out the dribble of weather we get on the LeftCoast!Are they paying you for these stories, Tyee?It sure looks like it. No journalist with eyes to seethe tarps still going up all over the Lower Mainlandwould accept anything the industry said at face value.The real story: WHY are 62 buyers at the experimental,green, sustainable Athlete’s Village/MillenniumWater joined in a class action to get the heck out oftheir condos?First, let’s stop the waste of resources and moneyon ‘repairing/reconstructing’ fundamentally flawedproduct. We need housing the meets CSA durabilityguidelines as a matter of law.To protect the environment and consumers, we shouldmake the construction of housing that fails before atleast 25 years a strict liability offence! At the momentthere is NO incentive to construct quality housing - nopenalty for infecting the environment with toxic, unstablegarbage still under tarps regardless of age. Newstuff leaks just like the old stuff from the ‘70s whenCanada on the advice of National Research Council(NRC) scientists enacted energy-saving provisions.How much energy have we wasted repairing experimentsintended to save energy?How long will we allow it to go on?And you are being generous at that!posted by “RickW” on April 1, 2011Quote:In Canada, the federal government policies aroundenergy efficiency and conservation have been spotty,at bestASKBiblitz: Excellent point! The condo tents are soubiquitous that no one sees them anymore. It was asuperb PR move, getting the owners to shoulder theblame for the deficient construction - and getting themto pay for the (temprorary) repairs as well!Don’t ya just love the free market!leaky condos aren’t the whole storyposted by “jnewcomb” on April 1, 2011While BC’s leaky condo crisis has certainly resultedin massive, multi-billion-dollar multiplication ofeconomic development, it isn’t exactly a poster-childfor good conservation. I think the Barrett Commissiontried to place all the blame on shoddy real estatedevelopers, builders, architects, and municipal inspectors.However, as bad as the leaky condo crisishas been for so many BCers who thought they werebuying their retirement haven - and just got deeper indebt - residential energy conservation is much morethan that.If we can reduce electrical energy going into homes,the energy saved can be used for industry, export - oreven just to delay the need to build another dam. If itsoil or natgas heating, BC will be reducing its greenhousegas emissions - thats good too.I don’t think that Bev Van Ruyven can easily respondbecause policies with such financial implications likeBC Hydro loans would probably have to be vetted byBC Utilities Commission first.80