Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sustainable building practices

[Eddie Matejowsky (e.matejowsky]

>There is no reason why lovely homes could not be built from local lumber 
>anywhere in this country or at least from forests that aren't devastated in 
>the process.
This list doesn't just cover "your country".
> It might cost a little more, as organic did and an 
>increasingly doesn't, but then here's a opportunity to put our money where 
>our mouths are. 
You're only talking about the cost of building the house. You should be
talking about the total cost of the house during it's entire life span
divided by life span - including it's energy costs for heating cooling. In
many cases timber will be appropriate but not all. 
>Hey, how about good, old-fashion stone.  Shakespeare's home 
>outside of London is over 400 years old -- warm in the winter, cool in the 
>summer -- great R value.  It's made from timbers and stone. The solution is 
>APPROPRIATE technology.  Not technology that is exciting because it is new.
>
>Peter Starr
If you've read my previous posts on the subject you'll find that APPROPRIATE
technology is what I'm taking about. There are situations where foam core
etc are APPROPRIATE technology, there are (many) times when it is not. 
Stone homes are what prompted my post about "how long do we want homes to
last". If a lot of energy/work/money goes into a building that's intended to
be long lasting and it's destroyed way before the end it's intended life
span - for any reason, then that technology was NOT appropriate. We can't
predict the future so we can never be sure what is appropriate but we can
make an attempt.
Eddie.M.
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Edward Matejowsky.
Queensland University of Technology
Centre for Eye Research
email E.MATEJOWSKY [at] QUT.EDU.AU
Wk +61 73 864 5731 Hm +61 73 2825382