GBA Logo horizontal Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter Instagram YouTube Icon Navigation Search Icon Main Search Icon Video Play Icon Plus Icon Minus Icon Picture icon Hamburger Icon Close Icon Sorted
Green Building Curmudgeon

Presidents and Sweaters

Jimmy Carter encouraged us to turn down thermostats and dress warmer in the national interest. Seems like he might have been right; we just need to get enough people to realize it.

今年秋天早些时候,在第一个寒冷的日子, I considered climbing into the crawlspace to light the pilot on my floor furnace, but decided it was easier to just put on a sweatshirt. The practically prehistoric furnace is part of the house I had intended to demolish as part of my derailed plans for anew house, so I have been putting up with it for a few years now. I do turn off the pilot for most of the year and put up with the inconvenience of lighting it once a year in an effort to save some money and energy.

Back to the sweatshirt story. It reminded me of President Carter during the first oil crisis in the 1970s; he urged Americans to conserve, put on sweaters, and he even put solar panels on the White House. Solar power and energy efficiency were everywhere, and the modern green building movement saw its first sparks during this time.

Then Reagan came into office, oil prices were manipulated back down to lull us into complacency, the solar panels came off the White House, and we went back to our consumptive lifestyles. Despite the occasional brief interruption during periods when oil prices spiked, for over 20 years we have been living a relatively thoughtless and consumptive lifestyle in this country. For the average person, the idea of any sort of sacrifice for the greater good has been invisible for more than two decades.

Battleships can’t turn on a dime

I believe that the recent economic challenges will change our attitudes on housing. It will not be as easy to see our homes as investment vehicles, buying, building, and renovating, always confident of solid financial returns. We will need to start looking at houses as places that we will live in for many years and may not even get much of a return on when we sell. This should lead us to building smaller, more efficient, and more durable homes. This gives me some confidence that we are headed in a different direction; but we still have a long way to go, and ingrained behaviors will not change quickly or easily. Many of us still feel entitled, that we deserve everything we want, from luxury homes to fancy cars and that ever-present, energy-hogging 60-in. plasma TV.

Kids these days…

I remember that drafty old apartment in college many decades ago, where we put plastic on the windows, kept the thermostat down, wore warm clothes. I don’t want to sound like a cranky old guy (which I am, I suppose), but I do think that as a society we have become soft, lazy, and demanding. We expect luxury and convenience in everything we do. I have friends who keep their heat or AC on with windows and doors open. They also cool or heat their homes on perfectly nice days, simply because they can’t take the time to open windows and turn off thermostats. As I said in anearlier post, we can have all the green homes we want, but if we don’t have green people who understand how to manage them efficiently, their value will be limited.

There are people out there who turn things off, dress appropriately for the temperature, walk, bike, recycle, and just consume less, but they are still a minority in this country. When big changes come—and they may be here sooner than we think—these people will be better able to adapt by being accustomed to little inconveniences. The rest of us will have to learn how to live with less very quickly.

6 Comments

  1. Rick Richardson||#1

    Put on a sweater
    Our retirement home will be in the mountains of North Carolina. We have a 1500 square foot ranch with a full basement. In the basement we have updated an old wood buring stove with a more efficient Momma Bear Stove. This is our primary heat source for the mountain home. The physics of heat and this stove will keep the house tosty warm with a minimal of wood fuel. I had cut additional floor vents thru out the house. We have added a water tank assembly on the stove to provide hot water for the washing machine which is in the basement. A clothes line is suspended from the above ceiling joist of the first floor. The farm is a little over 25 acres and half of it being in timber, I have an ample supply of fuel. Our secondary heat source are propane logs in the fireplace in the living room. As for my air intake for cooling, I have split the system to pull from the cooler basement when the temperture differance is 10 degrees or more from the outside air. The A/C is electrical and ceiling fans are located in the kitchen, dining room, family room and all bedrooms. All windows are thermal payne and stay open most of the time in the summer with the exception of days that A/C is brought on line.

  2. John Brooks||#2

    Orange Sunshine
    Carl,
    I think what you have taken is orange sunshine.
    Try to mellow out and maybe drink a beer if you have one.
    And listen to some Allman Brothers.

  3. Expert Member
    Carl Seville||#3

    Never touched the stuff
    And while you may not believe it, I am actually pretty mellow these days.

  4. John Brooks||#4

    Goofin on Jimmy not you
    Carl,
    I thought you were old enough to remember the Dan Akroyd spoof on Jimmy Carter.
    Every time i see a photo of Carter.. I think about the Akroyd parody.
    I will find a link to the video and post it.

  5. John Brooks||#5

    Akroyd video
    http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/ask-president-carter/278735

    Carl, I enjoy your blogs and your sense of humor.

  6. Expert Member
    Carl Seville||#6

    Old enough
    But didn't remember it. Thanks

Log in or create an account to post a comment.

Related

Community

Recent Questions and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |