[Greenbuilding] ENERGY STAR Clothes Dryers Program Launch

[David Bergman]

Hi Reuben,

These are important points to discuss. I'm thinking of "desirable" in 
perhaps a broader sense. How do we make smaller homes desirable? Or 
urban living? Or reduced consumption/materialism?  In other words, 
how we change our habits and our image of what "the good life" is?

Comments are enabled (but moderated). I didn't see one from you, 
though I'd be very happy to see your post there.

The subscribe and follow links are not yet working right, though.

Regards,

David

At 10:11 AM 7/23/2012, you wrote:
>David,
>I look forward to following your blog. It seems like a very 
>worthwhile project.
>On your blog you wrote:
>"It's not enough to say there are solutions (though it's a good 
>start). We need solutions that are desirable; not solutions that are 
>adopted only because they are necessary. I firmly believe there are 
>futures that simultaneously save the environment that nurtures us 
>while allowing, indeed helping, us to flourish as individuals and as 
>the species homo sapiens."
>
>I agree in general, but I suspect you'd concur that the definition 
>of desirable is going to have to be divorced from the framework of 
>fossil fuels. Many of the things currently understood as convenient 
>in our society are drenched in fossil fuels. We're going to have to 
>figure out ways to redefine convenience in new ways. Right now a 
>reigning interpretation of how to make solutions desirable is Energy 
>Star: pick categories of appliances known to flatter middle class 
>tastes (side by side refrigerator with through the door ice and 
>water) and tweak the parameters so that they qualify for an Energy 
>Star. Rather than discourage the category as a whole as energy 
>authorities did through about 1990, now the majority of Energy Star 
>refrigerators are side by sides with TTD ice and water. I think this 
>is an unpromising way forward. As it stands, the underlying goal of 
>reducing our dependence on fossil fuels has taken a back step to 
>encouraging early replacement and trading up.
>
>I signed up for your blog but suspect maybe that comments aren't 
>enabled there yet.
>
>Reuben
>
>On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 8:25 PM, David Bergman 
><<mailto:bergman at cyberg.com>bergman at cyberg.com> wrote:
>At 11:05 PM 7/22/2012, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn wrote:
>
>>I think that forward thinking people discover better ways to do things.
>>The rest of society only follows when they are forced to.
>
>I think there's more to it than that. People also tend to follow when:
>
>they like what they see
>they want to be cool like other (forward thinking) people
>they see personal advantage (health, $, etc.)
>
>These "carrot" methods, arguably, work much better than the stick of 
>requiring people to change.
>
>BTW, this is a significant part of what I'm going to be writing 
>about in my new blog, EcoOptimism ( www.Ecooptimism.com).
>
>David Bergman  RA   LEED AP
>DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
>architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
><mailto:bergman at cyberg.com>bergman at cyberg.com    www.cyberg.com
>241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
>t 212 475 3106    f <tel:212%20677%207291>212 677 7291
>
>author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide
>blog - <http://www.ecooptimism.com/>www.EcoOptimism.com
>adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design
>
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David Bergman  RA   LEED AP
DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
architecture . interiors . ecodesign . lighting . furniture
bergman at cyberg.com    www.cyberg.com
241 Eldridge Street #3R, New York, NY 10002
t 212 475 3106    f 212 677 7291

author - Sustainable Design: A Critical Guide
blog - www.EcoOptimism.com
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design  
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