Future proof your life with an eco-house
Professor Susan Roaf has been working with Christian Aid on a project to build the ultimate eco house. Here she writes about 'future proofing’ the way we live in order to stave off the worst excesses of climate change and soaring energy costs.
In 2000 I wrote a book on eco-houses in which we outlined some of the problems that the world was facing and why we had to radically change the ways in which we lived in our home to have a more ‘sustainable life style’. When I sat down to write the introduction to the third edition I thought 'Oh my God, we were right – it is happening!'.
Looking back over the last six years I could see that all the theoretical concerns raised in the first edition over climate change and fossil fuel depletion, firmed up in Ecohouse 2 into examples of how what we thought would happen, had begun to happen and by the time of publishing this third edition so many alarming events have occurred that we are beginning to get an inkling that there is much worse to come than we ever envisaged.
Looking back over the last six years I could see that all the theoretical concerns raised in the first edition over climate change and fossil fuel depletion, firmed up in Ecohouse 2 into examples of how what we thought would happen, had begun to happen and by the time of publishing this third edition so many alarming events have occurred that we are beginning to get an inkling that there is much worse to come than we ever envisaged.
Four events in particular really struck home to me the need to rapidly and effectively adapt out homes and life styles today – not tomorrow
The first was the effect of the European heat wave of July 2003 that killed over 35,000 people, of whom some 15,000 alone lived in France. Many were the vulnerable elderly, many living on the top floors of blocks with un-insinuated metal roofs. So even adapted vernacular buildings were then beginning not to be able to provide adequate shelter for their occupants in extreme weather(1).
The second event happened a month later with the August 2003 power failure that affected over 50 million people in the eastern seaboard of the United States. In New York people had to evacuate the buildings because most of them were fixed-window, air-conditioned buildings in which the air for breathing ran out in under an hour, and internal temperatures surged within minutes. Again these buildings had failed to provide adequate shelter. What was a unique ‘New York’ experience on a hot summers evening with people safely sleeping on the streets may, if that had happened during a snow storm in winter, there could have been untold loss of human life.
The third event that shocked the world was New Orleans. I wont go into the many iniquities of the situation other than to say that here it was not only the buildings that failed but the physical infrastructure of the city and worse, the social and human support systems of the United States, supposedly the richest country on earth.
Fourthly has been the inexorable rise and rise of oil and gas prices around the world, heralding that the fact that we are already over ‘peak oil’, we are simply running out of oil and gas (2). In the last two years alone our oil and gas bills have doubled in the UK, and many of the most vulnerable in our society are afraid, afraid that next winter they will not be able to pay to stay warm, as they face the heat or eat dilemma that may touch all of our lives in the future.
The second event happened a month later with the August 2003 power failure that affected over 50 million people in the eastern seaboard of the United States. In New York people had to evacuate the buildings because most of them were fixed-window, air-conditioned buildings in which the air for breathing ran out in under an hour, and internal temperatures surged within minutes. Again these buildings had failed to provide adequate shelter. What was a unique ‘New York’ experience on a hot summers evening with people safely sleeping on the streets may, if that had happened during a snow storm in winter, there could have been untold loss of human life.
The third event that shocked the world was New Orleans. I wont go into the many iniquities of the situation other than to say that here it was not only the buildings that failed but the physical infrastructure of the city and worse, the social and human support systems of the United States, supposedly the richest country on earth.
Fourthly has been the inexorable rise and rise of oil and gas prices around the world, heralding that the fact that we are already over ‘peak oil’, we are simply running out of oil and gas (2). In the last two years alone our oil and gas bills have doubled in the UK, and many of the most vulnerable in our society are afraid, afraid that next winter they will not be able to pay to stay warm, as they face the heat or eat dilemma that may touch all of our lives in the future.
Time to act
With the end of cheap oil comes the end of the boom economy that we have grown up with since the end of the second world war and we enter a new economic era in which the continual growth required for that booming economy, predicated on cheap oil, will perhaps be more and more difficult to achieve.
Such events have shown us that we are not prepared for what lies ahead. We apparently cannot rely on governments or cities or ‘society’ to protect us from climate change or expensive oil. What we should be able to rely on is good buildings. I definitely rely on my Ecohouse, every time a quarterly gas or electricity bill drops on my mat that is for £20, or £30 or £50. I can pay that. I could not pay a bill that if for £300 or £500 or £700 ! I feel safe because I live in an Ecohouse.
In the scorching July this summer my house was beautifully cool at around 22 degrees Celsius, because of its high mass, shading, excellent ventilation and the well treed garden it sits in. In the cold winter of 2005/6 it was always warm enough.
In Ecohouse 2, published in 2003, I was writing about the rather amorphous concept of ‘sustainability’. In 2004 we published a further book called ‘Closing the Loop: Benchmarks for Sustainable Buildings’ where we tried to provide clarity and described a range of the key ‘sustainability’ issues, ways in which buildings impact on their environment and how those impacts can be measured and reduced (3). All of the issues in that book also affect Ecohouse design: Quality of Life; Community; Transport; Waste; Air, Land and Water Pollution and so on but are beyond the detailed scope of this book that is more about the actual design of the house and its internal systems.
Such events have shown us that we are not prepared for what lies ahead. We apparently cannot rely on governments or cities or ‘society’ to protect us from climate change or expensive oil. What we should be able to rely on is good buildings. I definitely rely on my Ecohouse, every time a quarterly gas or electricity bill drops on my mat that is for £20, or £30 or £50. I can pay that. I could not pay a bill that if for £300 or £500 or £700 ! I feel safe because I live in an Ecohouse.
In the scorching July this summer my house was beautifully cool at around 22 degrees Celsius, because of its high mass, shading, excellent ventilation and the well treed garden it sits in. In the cold winter of 2005/6 it was always warm enough.
In Ecohouse 2, published in 2003, I was writing about the rather amorphous concept of ‘sustainability’. In 2004 we published a further book called ‘Closing the Loop: Benchmarks for Sustainable Buildings’ where we tried to provide clarity and described a range of the key ‘sustainability’ issues, ways in which buildings impact on their environment and how those impacts can be measured and reduced (3). All of the issues in that book also affect Ecohouse design: Quality of Life; Community; Transport; Waste; Air, Land and Water Pollution and so on but are beyond the detailed scope of this book that is more about the actual design of the house and its internal systems.
A property crash
In 2005 we produced another more shocking book called ‘Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change’ in which we fully described the ways on which the climate is changing, and how that will affect the design and performance of buildings and cities in an era of rising fossil fuel prices (4). Like the burst of the Dot-com bubble, where Internet stocks lost their value overnight, this is beginning to happen to property .
Commercial buildings with a poor energy performance are now being singled out as ‘investment time bombs’ by one leading London consultancy (5). The same will be true for housing. The introduction of energy performance certificates for Housing on the 1 June 2007 will make a huge difference (6) to how easy it is to see a house. Who wants to be lumbered with an energy nightmare when no one knows how much gas or electricity may cost in five years time, let alone if there will be a constant supply at times of most need.
Commercial buildings with a poor energy performance are now being singled out as ‘investment time bombs’ by one leading London consultancy (5). The same will be true for housing. The introduction of energy performance certificates for Housing on the 1 June 2007 will make a huge difference (6) to how easy it is to see a house. Who wants to be lumbered with an energy nightmare when no one knows how much gas or electricity may cost in five years time, let alone if there will be a constant supply at times of most need.
The rolling blackouts in London in summer 2006 were a taste of what may come as supply shortages begin to bite
Also in the book we predicted an event like that in New Orleans in 2005.
eco-houses are a fundamental building blocks of the ‘passive survivability’ approach now gaining popularity in the States, that promotes the idea of future-proofing the occupants of buildings against such changes, enabling them not only to be able to pay the fuel bills but also to survive comfortably through extreme weather events when the power fails (7).
At the beginning of the 21st century we have the technology to make the necessary changes happen, to build a more sustainable future but what we all urgently need to do, in our own homes and our own communities, is to work together to grow the eco-society that will make those changes happen, in time. Some think that it is too late already (8) but whatever is ahead we need to learn now how to rapidly adapt, to withstand what nature throws at us and to reduce our impacts on a revengeful Gaia (9).
One thing is sure, whether rich or poor, no man is an Island in the 21st century.
Join the climate change campaign
eco-houses are a fundamental building blocks of the ‘passive survivability’ approach now gaining popularity in the States, that promotes the idea of future-proofing the occupants of buildings against such changes, enabling them not only to be able to pay the fuel bills but also to survive comfortably through extreme weather events when the power fails (7).
At the beginning of the 21st century we have the technology to make the necessary changes happen, to build a more sustainable future but what we all urgently need to do, in our own homes and our own communities, is to work together to grow the eco-society that will make those changes happen, in time. Some think that it is too late already (8) but whatever is ahead we need to learn now how to rapidly adapt, to withstand what nature throws at us and to reduce our impacts on a revengeful Gaia (9).
One thing is sure, whether rich or poor, no man is an Island in the 21st century.
Join the climate change campaign
Footnotes
1. For extensive and authoritative information on climate change and it s impacts see: www.ukcip.org.uk and www.ipcc.ch
2. For excellent discussions on the issues of Peak Oil see:
www.peakoil.net, www.odac-info.org and www.energycrisis.com
3. Roaf, S., A. Horsley and R. Gupta (2004). Closing the Loop: Benchmarks for Sustainable Buildings’, RIBA Enterprises, London.
4. Roaf, S., Crichton, D. and F. Nicol (2005). Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change, Architectural Press, Oxford.
5. New Research Reveals Impact Of Environmentally Unfriendly Buildings: www.gensler.com
6. See: www.epbd-ca.org/Medias/Pdf/15_CO_UK.pdf and http://www.eeph.org.uk/energy
Another blight on housing sales relates to those areas on the flood plains where homes will no longer be eligible for flood insurance after 2007 and for updated news on these areas see: http://www.abi.org.uk/
7. Environmental Building News Vol. 14, No. 12 : www.buildinggreen.com
8. See 'The revenge of Gaia' by James Lovelock, Penguin Publications 2006.
9. The most urgent global challenge we face is to reduce the carbon emissions from our lifestyles to a level at which the climate can be stabilised. For a full account of the theory of Contraction and Convergence that offers us the best chance to date is to do this see the website of the Global Commons Institute: http://www.gci.org.uk/
2. For excellent discussions on the issues of Peak Oil see:
www.peakoil.net, www.odac-info.org and www.energycrisis.com
3. Roaf, S., A. Horsley and R. Gupta (2004). Closing the Loop: Benchmarks for Sustainable Buildings’, RIBA Enterprises, London.
4. Roaf, S., Crichton, D. and F. Nicol (2005). Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change, Architectural Press, Oxford.
5. New Research Reveals Impact Of Environmentally Unfriendly Buildings: www.gensler.com
6. See: www.epbd-ca.org/Medias/Pdf/15_CO_UK.pdf and http://www.eeph.org.uk/energy
Another blight on housing sales relates to those areas on the flood plains where homes will no longer be eligible for flood insurance after 2007 and for updated news on these areas see: http://www.abi.org.uk/
7. Environmental Building News Vol. 14, No. 12 : www.buildinggreen.com
8. See 'The revenge of Gaia' by James Lovelock, Penguin Publications 2006.
9. The most urgent global challenge we face is to reduce the carbon emissions from our lifestyles to a level at which the climate can be stabilised. For a full account of the theory of Contraction and Convergence that offers us the best chance to date is to do this see the website of the Global Commons Institute: http://www.gci.org.uk/
 |
|
|
Terms & Conditions © Christian Aid 2007
