[Greenbuilding] 100 miles builds

[bill.allen at verizon.net]

I recently saw a lovely, old home torn down in order to be replaced by a new, "net zero", "green" home.  Sad.

Another rule of thumb should be "the greenest home is an existing home"....

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn <info at ecobrooklyn.com>
Sender: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:00:34 
To: Green Building<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Reply-to: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] 100 miles builds

One rule of thumb I think is pretty universal is that less building is
greener than more building. Period.
I'd like to see that rule of thumb actually be universally implemented.

Gennaro Brooks-Church
Director, Eco Brooklyn Inc.
Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231



On Sat, Feb 25, 2012 at 3:45 PM, Chris Koehn <chris at koehn.com> wrote:
> Salt Spring Island is next door to us. I'm looking at it across the Satellite Channel as I type. I've built on Salt Spring. It is a special kind of place. Not only does it attract many well heeled, socially responsible types who can afford to pay sometimes substantial premiums to "do the right thing" (Randy Bachman lives there, etc etc); it's also within 100 miles of some of the most productive and abused forests in the world. Building with wood is a no brainer anywhere around here, and in fact I'd wager that your average local Joe Builder does a better job of this simply because it's cheaper to buy local wood than that which comes from the mainland- completely without regard for the more important question (IMHO) of how that wood was harvested and where it came from. More so on Salt Spring: it's an island only accessible by ferry, with few locally generated materials beyond wood, clay, and stone- and not all of these is being utilized sustainably.
> So while I personally applaud this project, it's important to understand the specific conditions that come along with any effort to build local. It's more important to understand the qualities, drawbacks, and sustainability of local materials, how they have been used historically, and how we might maximize their usefulness and longevity to suit local climates and conditions.
>
> Chris Koehn
> TimberGuides Design & Build
> Vancouver Island BC
>
>
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