I agree with ya John!!!
For instance, there is a huge problem with the Green Bldg Council who have been promising to develop a cradle to grave costs for bldg materials and assemblies so that the "REAL" cost of new materials can be fairly compared with restoration and preserved ones - no answer yet! "I" think the task has either been intentionally hampered by big biz or the calculations are impossible to make due to all the false subsidies in new materials, oil, etc so we may never know. It has been incredibly difficult for me lately with clients wanting to change 100s to even 1000s of windows thinking they will save a boat load of energy $$$ and then I suggest that they run the numbers and see the savings are not there. However they still "want" to change the windows cause the next guy up the decision chain is dead set. Adding to this is the fact that we have businesses to run and can't afford to chase business away. So far "I" have held the line but I know many others in my office haven't - we are somewhat at the whim of the client's knowledge and perseverance.
Then add in the "cost of money" and relative short life of building ownership, knowing a fully "upgraded" building is easier to rent and sell at better/higher prices.
Eric Hammarberg, Assoc. AIA
Vice President
Thornton Tomasetti
51 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
T 917.661.7800 F 917.661.7801
D 917.661.8160
[log in to unmask]
www.ThorntonTomasetti.com
-----Original Message-----
From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Leeke
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 12:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BP] And here's another one
> But is disposable housing economically undesirable?
Of course, disposable housing is economically desirable--for the
corporations that construct it and in the process will wring every cent
of value out of the earth and your life and my life, and the lives of
our children, and their children.
The only economic studies that conclude the disposable economy is good
depend on the corporate strategy of externalizing expenses. Damage to
the environment during manufacture and disposal of plastic and cardboard
siding--not included. Loss of the lives of our sons and daughters in
Iraq to secure the oil used to make the disposable plastic windows--not
included. The flat out waste of embodied energy when the fine old
Victorian down the street is ground up, hauled to the dump and replaced
with a disposable MacMansion--not included.
We don't need expert studies to determine what is practical and good. We
can look around us and do our own thinking. Does it make practical sense
(or not) to pick up a metal spoon that already exists, use it to eat
your breakfast and then wash it; or to go half-way around the world,
extract petroleum oil from underground, haul that oil back home, refine
it into plastic resin, haul that resin half-way across the continent,
form it into a plastic spoon, haul it across the continent again, go to
the store, haul it home, remove and dispose of the plastic wrapper it
came in, use the spoon once, throw it in the trash, and haul it to the
dump? How is it even possible to make that spoon so cheaply that we can
afford to throw it out? Because the corporations that make it are
externalizing most of the cost of making that spoon. The exact same
thing is now happening with plastic windows and entire houses. Each of
us can do our own thinking, and decide each morning how we will eat our
breakfast and how we will build and care for our houses.
knowledge, good judgment, wisdom
Like Leland says, "think global, act local."
John
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