[Greenbuilding] 100 miles builds

[Corwyn]

On 2/24/2012 6:51 PM, Reuben Deumling wrote:

> well, but in practice this might be a good proxy, no?

Not really.  The differences between types are just too large to make 
this metric valuable.  Let's assume that 100 miles is by truck, and the 
cargo is 1 ton.  An equivalent distance by plane would only be 35 miles, 
but by rail it would be 984 miles, and by container ship 1704 miles. 
And all of those pale beside the 30 miles for my Prius.

Put another way, a ton of polystyrene shipped by container ship from 
Savannah GA, to Portland ME would be less embodied energy in transport 
than a ton of straw at a farm 15 miles away that I have to pick up 
myself in my car.

See what I mean?

> It gets people thinking about the issue of impact/footprint/etc.

But does it?  I suspect rather that it gives them a simple rule of thumb 
which they can use INSTEAD of thinking.


Thank You Kindly,

Corwyn

-- 
Topher Belknap
Green Fret Consulting
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