Offbeat Homes

How Sustainable Are You Allowed To Be?

by Adam on March 23rd, 2007

[photo via Treehugger]

I want to build a sustainable home, but I can’t. Do you know whether or not you have the option to build a sustainable home? Everybody is telling us we need to change. Change a light bulb, recycle, use renewable energy. Haven’t you seen the Inconvenient Truth? (I just did, I know that is so 2006) Hell, Al Gore(his architect) didn’t even know he couldn’t place solar panels on his house. You might be ready to change but someone else isn’t ready to let you.

Most of our electricity, in the Omaha area, comes from a nuclear and coal burning power plants. Both of which produce harmful bi-products. The nuclear plant produces waste that will NEVER go away. Whereas the coal burning plant produces C-O-2 which is the main contributor to global warming. So why not produce your own energy? It is the most logical way to lower the demand that the energy companies need to fill. However the tower needed, for the windmill, is not allowed within the city limits. Wind isn’t the only way to produce electricity. How about solar? Solar panels maybe acceptable by the city, but what about covenants? The subdivisions covenants don’t allow solar panels on the roof or in the yard. Covenants are created to protect the financial interest of you and your neighbors.

Even if I lived outside the city limits I would run into limitations. When you produce energy you have to store it until you need it. An option is using batteries. Of course, the negative, are the batteries and storage. You need to have enough batteries that can store and power your needs until you can produce more. In most cases this could mean a dozen batteries or more. Another, and easier option, is to be connected to the grid. When you are connected to the grid, and producing energy, you give back your energy surplus. Then on days you don’t produce enough energy, you take what you need from the grid. There is still one more option, you pay the electric company to “supply” your home with renewable energy. I am complacent to do this because my electric company has ONE windmill, a landfill gas plant, and no solar panels. This doesn’t reassure me of their commitment to renewable energy nor the fact my extra contribution will actually provide me with renewable energy.

A more disturbing fact that hits home for me:

…architects–together with the building industry–are responsible for just about half of America’s energy consumption and half its greenhouse gas emissions…[metropolis magazine]

The best way to reduce this impact is prefabricated, manufactured, or modular homes, because they are built under controls. Controls that guarantee the reduction of waste, efficiency of time, and control costs. Just like the solar panels, manufactured homes are not allowed in most subdivisions. Covenants are created to protect the financial interest of you and your neighbors.

Again, I could build outside the city limits but that will only contribute to Omaha’s growing(sprawl) problem.

If we really want to create or evoke change we need to act locally in order to cause change globally.

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POSTED IN: Alternative Construction, Design Trends