[Greenbuilding] Debunking Energy Efficency...

[Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance]

I don't think anyone on this list would equate the use of no-VOC finishes as
a corner stone of sustainable building.

Mary Bull, Co-director
Greenwood Earth Alliance, Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick, San Francisco, CA 94117 http://www.gapsucks.org
Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center, 748 Montgomery Rd, Sebastopol CA
95472
415-731-7924 - 415-509-1188 chalicenew at earthlink.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nick Pine" <nick at early.com>
To: <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Debunking Energy Efficency...


> Mary Bull writes:
>
> > I question the whole Energy Efficiency as God thing...
>
> Steven Strong (aka God :-) said something like this in
> The New Independent Home book...
>
> My message to architects and engineers is: Look
> at the whole picture. A recent article hailed
> a 9,000-square-foot, architect-designed house as
> the latest in environmentally responsible design.
> Its principal claim was the use of natural, nontoxic
> finishes on the woodwork. In the rush to commercialize
> "Green Architecture," nobody noticed that this house
> consumes more energy than a small New England town.
>
>
>
> If your goal is an environmentally responsible building,
>
> you're missing the whole point if you get all lathered up
>
> over a nonvolatile natural finish on the handrails, while
>
> you're connected to a plutonium generator down the road.
>
> It's the same "out of site, out of mind" again, with
>
> a new face. "I'm doing all I can for the environment,
>
> my architect specified beeswax on my new woodwork--
>
> someone else will just have to figure out what
>
> we're going to do with all this radioactive waste..."
>
> and acid rain and oil spills and global warming and
>
> ozone depletion and unhealthy air quality and...
>
>
>
> Without addressing the energy issues, you're in the weeds.
>
> All the fuss over "my milk-based paints transported in
>
> from Europe" is just a myopic distraction from the issues
>
> that really matter on a global scale. True, natural-based
>
> finishes are desirable, but they fall far short of the answer.
>
> Establishing an energy infrastructure based on renewable
>
> resources is a necessary and fundamental precondition to
>
> a sustainable society or to achieving sustainability
>
> at any scale. If you don't address the energy issues, don't
>
> even pretend that your building is environmentally responsible.
>
>
>
> Nick
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding email list
> List info:
http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
> List email: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> Managed by BuildingGreen, Inc. http://www.buildinggreen.com
>       publisher of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec(r)
> Hosted and archived by REPP / CREST http://www.crest.org