Today,
with our technological advances, (I’m not basing technology,. I really am a
huge fan of technology) we are so constrained to the easiness of technology, we
don’t really conserve of anything. For example we use HVAC systems to heat and
cool our homes and businesses virtually at the click of a button, using a lot
of energy that could be saved, conserved, or utilized elsewhere. Instead of
using these as our primary sources of “comfort” in our buildings, we ought to
utilize the natural capital of our place to harvest energy, heat, cooling, and
lighting while having an HVAC as a backup/last resort sort of thing. This is
all in reference to the reading attached to my paper/assignment that is due in
a few days—the reading is called “Building Adaptive Places” and is from the
book “The Agile City” by James S. Russell. It really is helpful information and
knowledge on how to utilize heating, cooling, and lighting by the way we design
our buildings and how we orient them.
Since these are “the biggest energy users in buildings by
far,” they obviously have the greatest potential to be reduced. I like how the
author says he is not going to propose fifty ways to green your home through
better light bulbs and caulking your windows properly. He just says that
although those are affordable things, there is already plenty of guidance for
such things. I just really like how he focuses on the step before the “greening
of your home,” so-to-say, because of his descriptions of how to orient the home
to capture sunlight, cross winds for cross ventilation and cooling, as well as
other suggestions. As an Architecture and Planning student, I can really relate
to all of this he talks about. this quote from page 155 pretty much sums up how
I feel about the author’s outlook, the design process, and the “before you
green your home” concept I described above.
“The Real Opportunity to make deep cuts in carbon, and to
live with much lower impact on the environment, begins not with technology but
with place, with a holistic approach to understanding and making the most of
every setting’s unique qualities.”
When I say “utilize the natural capital of our place,”
what I mean is best said by James Russell, “Making the most of the location:
orientation, typography, soils, vegetation, cultural traditions, and so on”
(pg. 158). This really puts it in perspective! To put it bluntly, all of those
things are free! Sun, daylight and fresh are all free, so why don’t we use
them? Some of it, to me, is common sense and although there are some excellent
examples to do this, I feel empowered to be able to implement this skill in the
buildings I’m going to design in the future.
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