[Greenbuilding] simple energy-less home

[gennaro brooks-church]

IMO dollars are a poor measurement of green building. $1.50 for a stud at
Lowes or $1.50 to collect and clean up a stud from a dumpster are very
different dollars. I've completely stopped comparing my prices to normal
contractors. Sometimes I'm three times cheaper, other times three times
more expensive. It's a completely different business model, bottom line,
intention, hidden costs and short/long term benefits.
 The trap of green building dollar comparison along current means of
measurement is like saying slavery should be abolished because a tractor is
more productive than a black man.

Gennaro Brooks-Church
EcoBrooklyn.com
347-244-3016
22 2nd St., Brooklyn.
This email was sent from my phone.

On May 25, 2013, at 1:15 PM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:

Dollars are what we receive for our brief expenditure of energy on this
planet (birth to death it seems) so I would say it is a fair unit of
measurement that we may be motivated to conserve.



I use dollars as a conservation unit in green design. Typically spending
less on a project means building less, using fewer materials, consuming
fewer resources and ultimately using fewer resources to maintain (what is
not built).



Does buying a prius mean you are consuming less energy? On average it does
but it is simply a reduction in a the energy required to maintain an energy
intensive lifestyle (commuting ,etc.). Building a large energy conserving
house plus, commuting to work in a prius and then occupying a large energy
conserving office will offer good numbers as a ratio but not as a
consequence



Co2 production would probably be a better measure for conservation.



*From:* Greenbuilding
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org<greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>]
*On Behalf Of *Steve Satow
*Sent:* May-25-13 7:45 AM
*To:* Green Building
*Subject:* Re: [Greenbuilding] simple energy-less home





On 2013-05-25, at 7:27 AM, Topher (and various others) wrote:



Dollars are not a measure of energy use.



Well, given that kWs or Btus or litres or degrees or minutes and just about
every other form of measurement not associated with a natural event (such
as the rotation of the earth or circling of the Sun) are arbitrary concepts
invented by some person or persons for convenience at some time in the
past, I don't see why it isn't just as valid for the majority of the
population to adopt dollars as a unit of measurement for energy?



It may not be as accurate and therefore as useful for scientific purposes,
but no less functional.



Just a thought! :)



Steve.





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