Our homes, our egos, and our environment

EGO vs Knowledge 

Ordinarily I would wholeheartedly agree with Carlin on her claim that much of our attack on the environment is caused by our collective 'ego', but my experience suggests a contributing 'culprit'...a lack of appropriate 'knowledge'. As a building technologist I find that there is a pervasive ignorance about many subjects that we need to have a better understanding about if we are to collectively protect and maintain a healthy environment. For example presently I am studying the cost-benefits of using local sewerage treatment options instead of relaying on the Municipal waste water system, which in Christchurch's case, reliance on the latter has caused considerable inconvenience (for better or worse). How well do home owners know about the options? And what are the costs and benefits of the options? It would seem that in this case knowledge, rather than ego is more likely to determine whether a residential developer or new home builder is likely to affect the environment for better or worse. The question that arises from this view, is how does one provide such knowledge to the public? This is to me is the more interesting subject.

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

One of the contributing problems to the lack of knowledge by home owners is that the building trades do little to raise the game. Quotes for insulation, for example, are always for achieving the Building Regs. which is a minimum requirement. If they took the opportunity to add a recommendation for a better standard that would at least get the customer thinking. Energy costs will be the subject of future inflation just as much as everything else and the extra cost of putting in more insulation beyond the level at which the grant applies would be less than getting it done separately in the future.
The insulation of all pipes carrying hot water from a newly fitted boiler in an older house is not in the regs. It makes sense but is not suggested to the customer. The trade needs to do more: after all, it makes good sense to expose themselves to possibility of doing more business!

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

"Energy costs will be the subject of future inflation"

Absolutely - if not more so.
If you think energy is expensive now give it a couple of years and see what the cost is going to be.

Insulate, insulate, insulate - should be every ones mantra

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

I agree, one thing I often see in new houses is these huge living spaces that are like halls. We need to start designing spaces that are nice to be in instead of great cavernous areas that are difficult to heat, and not actually very nice to be in.

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

Hi Carlin - we call this "upsizing" of houses a "McMansion". It is a social disease, similar to obesity.

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

But not always?

We just completed a 380m2 house for 5 people (2+3kids) with an integral granny flat for mum, making 6 person household in total
Considering that her old place was a typical 1960's house and our new place far exceeds the building code requirements for insulation, has some passive solar elements and is designed for low energy use, then the reductions in energy use for heating, water, water consumption, waste disposal etc, will definitely offset the increase in house area compared to running two smaller houses. Then there is also the reduced fuel usage with not having to drive across town to take mum shopping or pickup/drop off the kids etc.

So in our case, building a large house is definitely the ECO option. I agree this may not be the case for 1 or two people rattling around in 400m2

Pete

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

Hi Pete,

I totally agree with you. It's more about how the space is used. For instance some people have a home office (like me) which saves using as much fossil fuels to commute etc. Also, having more people in one house, rather than fewer in more houses makes sense too (as in your case).

A well insulated 300m2 house will cost less to heat than a badly insulated 200m2 house, so that is an important factor too.

What I think is wrong is gratuitous waste of space, for example the McMansions with more rooms than will ever be used.

I think if we attach more importance to environmentally friendly features of a house, rather than to egotistical attachments that just say 'look how much money I have' then we'd be on the right track.

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

Quote
"I think if we attach more importance to environmentally friendly features of a house, rather than to egotistical attachments that just say 'look how much money I have' then we'd be on the right track. "


I wholly agree and will add the following
Often it is the case of 'Look how much money I have borrowed and look how stupid I am to completely enslave myself and family in this way"

The idea of houses as status symbols and "keeping up with the Jones'es" is a product of our consumption society that is the first to disappear in dire economic or adverse environmental
circumstances.

You know your country is in trouble when your televison programming is saturated with home reno shows, hot property sales and auctions, landscape gardening and mortgage finance advice.

The Machine that is foreign banksters, Insurance companies, Govt, Real Estate, and local councils needs you! They all depend on high asset book values to make themselves look good and increase their bottom lines, so the more you work or borrow to increase the perceived value of your home the better off they are. And what do you get out of this? usually a bigger loan repayment, higher interest, increased property rates and higher sales fees. Gee what do I get out of this again?

Do we actually own the house or does the house, (along with /foreign banksters/ councils/govt) own us?

Perhaps more of us should be looking at the financial environmental impacts of housing.

Eco friendly and debt friendly should go hand in hand. The environmental cost of broken marriages, high stress and burn out over simple bricks and mortar is horrendous and so unecessary.

The best advice I can give is don't build ego friendly homes. The ego is not your friend. The ego is a spoilt brat that requires constant discipline.

I'm going o discipline mine by going compost toilets and will park up the old flusheroo which the ego will really hate as I make him take out the 20 litre (non smelly) bucket every week or so. I can't wait to teach that little bastard...

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

You are right when you talk of a 'consumption society', everyone wants more than the other person, this in turn cannot keep up with world wide resources dwindling eg oil.
The monetary system is the root of all evil and this is backed up by Jacque Fresco of www.thevenusproject.com who has a very interesting take on the things you mentioned nofear.
They are a little strange at first, but the more you hear this Jacque guy say the more it makes sense.
The movie 'Zeitgeist Moving Forward' is very very interesting and a must see!
If only Bob Parker had issued 20litre buckets and a sack of sawbust to everyone in need they could have all made compost and saved the rivers from pollution. Importing cem wc's is just.......

Re: EGO vs Knowledge 

Quote"If only Bob Parker had issued 20litre buckets and a sack of sawbust to everyone in need they could have all made compost and saved the rivers from pollution. Importing cem wc's is just......."

i agree 100%. It would have been faster and way cheaper as well. Gee ..everyone wins except the suppliers and importers of chemical toilets..

Imagine, like in Asian countries where your human waste is collected daily and paid for by the company which tendered to collect it. i.e not paid for by you the ratepayer via council rates!. Using the bucket and sawdust method would provide a wonderful source of compost if treated correctly.

Most of all river and sea polluution would be averted and maybe ,just maybe, we would not have toxic 'blooms" and threatened shellfsh...here in the Marlborough Sounds we have a mussel industry providing 100's of tonnes per day. It can all cease overnight if pollution gets in the way.

I too endorse Zeitgeist, as well as Melt Up, The Day the dollar died", and other free videos on www.inflation.us
The God Delusion is another free movie well worth consideration as it is religion which is the tool used by the TPTP (the powers that be) to abort most of today's social revolutions such as in egypt and iran etc. In both of those countries I mentioned, each time a person arrived by plane from another country and began talk of religion, when the revolution in both cases started out as secular,socialist, seeking equality, independence, freedom from oppression and freedom from the capitalist imperialist empire. Absolutely nothing to do with religion.

I had to laugh a week or so back when the big protest march in the UK was labelled by one of our NZ puppet tv stations as an 'anti-capitalist protest" It was nothing of the sort. It was a protest directed against their government, but we can't tell the natives that...heck they might get ideas and do the same thing in NZ.

I reckon the NZ govt's greatest fear is that maori and non maori actually join forces. Now then we could really get great things done. In the meantime, everything possible is done to keep us apart and divided.

I look forward to visiting the venus project. Thanks very much for the link.