更多绿色建筑
几乎每次我与别人谈论green building, whether a potential or current client, or just a casual conversation, inevitably solar power comes up. This causes me to go into full on curmudgeon mode, pointing out that solar panels are pretty much pointless on homes until you’ve done everything else you can to make it more efficient and healthy. Solar is hot, trendy, hip, something you can touch (and might want to touch, as opposed to insulation), and a marketer’s dream, as are many other building products, all of which are seem to be labeled “green.”
The sales and installation of green building products, like the promotion of many medical procedures and prescription drugs, are very much driven by consumer demand, which is heavily influenced by advertising and marketing. We take medication for all sorts of illnesses like high cholesterol (guilty), diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and more, even though many of these symptoms and illnesses can be corrected by proper behavior and diet.
Similarly, building performance could be ratcheted up several notches by simply doing a better job with standard materials, instead of focusing on buying more “green” stuff. Not only that: a few simple improvements in occupant behavior could result in energy savings and improved indoor air quality.
Is it time to ban green product advertising?
Green building is being driven as much by the marketing efforts of manufacturers as by any demand for the finished product. And many consumers and professionals are influenced by marketing, driving them to consider various materials and systems individually, rather than as integrated parts of the whole house.
These products — solar modules, geothermal equipment, spray foam insulation, high-performance windows, bamboo floors — can all be effective parts of a green building, but none of them will add much to the project if not integrated properly. Maybe it’s time to ban advertising for green building products — they did it with cigarettes, didn’t they?
不完整的信息导致问题
有太多的设计师，建筑师，承包商甚至房主都可以拿起一些信息，并认为他们准备自己绿色。似乎每个使用喷雾泡沫绝缘材料的人都认为自己正在建造绿色 - 即使他们倾向于不了解足够的HVAC尺寸，从而导致湿度问题。
或者，也许他们安装了纤维素绝缘材料而无需正确闪烁的窗户，使水进入墙壁，使霉菌形成并腐烂。那些安装高效HVAC设备的人如何连接到无条件空间中的泄漏管道？
我仍然看到房屋一端的一端有一个加热器的计划，在另一侧提供浴室，没有想到有效的热水输送。这些都是对建筑科学的不完全理解的结果，这种情况在短期内不会看到太大的改善。
Small pockets of hope
There are a few professionals out there who “get it.” They understand how to plan green from the start, manage the process carefully throughout, and end up with high-performance projects with few problems.
不幸的是，绝大多数建筑专业人士都在努力仅仅在当前市场上漂浮，他们无法（或不会）花时间或花钱才能完全理解绿色建筑。更好的能源代码是迈向更好建筑物的开端，但是采用和执法都非常缓慢。
Until buyers understand and start demanding high-performance homes, we will continue to be at the mercy of those products with the biggest advertising budgets.
8 Comments
一切都很好，实际上
Carl - I would qualify your argument to say that from a strictly economic point of view it makes little sense to invest in solar panels when for the same money you could properly design and build (or correct) the building envelope and mechanical systems. The desire to use energy from the sun instead of fossil fuels is not merely an advertising-driven gimmick! If I could afford them (and the price is coming down) I would put solar panels on my roof of my leaky old house this instant. In the mean time, I'm working incrementally (in other words, doing what I can within my budget) to seal it up and make it more liveable with the greenest, most sustainable materials I can afford. While advertizing is often used to make us want things we don't necessarily need, we absolutely need to use the sun to make electricity, use technologies like geothermal to use less energy, and consider renewables like bamboo when we choose flooring.
While we're on the subject of Marketing
Why do people continually promote building practices /materials as "sustainable"??
我们在建造或改建房屋时所做的很少的事情是真正可持续的。
是时候从我们的词汇中删除该单词的单词了。
I was driving down the interstate the other day and saw a billboard promoting a production homebuilder. Two words- "Stustaibable Homes"
我几乎呕吐了。
Musings About Educating Buyers
“在买家理解并开始要求高性能的房屋之前，我们将继续受到最大广告预算的产品的摆布。”
The homebuying process is exciting, scary, and increasingly complicated. That's why most people still use realtors. But realtors aren't a very technical bunch. My simple metric to gauge someone's grasp of energy usage is to ask them to explain the difference between a KW and a KWH. Even the "certified green" realtors don't really get it. The growth rate of the number of energy savvy realtors is very low.
因此，没有简单通用的评级系统，就没有希望增加“买方理解”的希望。
A single number Dollars per Month home rating system is the best way to get the needed information to the buyers so they can start "demanding high performance".
The sum of the parts
This is a very good point - a green building is not defined by the green products that are incorporated but the sum of the green activities that were employed in building or renovating the building. The products that are used are worthwhile when they are properly coordinated with the rest of the building elements. Marketing of green products shouldn't be cut off though - it plays a critical role in educating the general public to demand for that "high-performance home." Cut the marketing and you cut the amount of dialogue that's occurring.
Brett won't like me saying
Brett won't like me saying the same but... There is a level of population that can sustain but there is nothing sustainable about adding another home and more consumers, to an already overly tapped planet.
Still, I enjoy the idea of green, of zero landfilling, net zero building, and yes even love solar panels.
So many good points, so many challenges
帖子中的重点 - 评论中的精彩讨论！“零件的总和”尤其让我感到震惊：“削减营销并削减对话的数量……”这是如此真实。太阳能电池板当然不是唯一的答案，也许不应该是第一个答案 - 但是让消费者有兴趣进行改进是必不可少的第一步。凯文（Kevin）提出了同样重要的观点：确保消费者拥有知名的教育来源，而无偏见的信息也是关键。
最后一个想法是：几周前，您在帖子中提出了一个重要的观点，即“ Bling”提倡激励计划和分层的能源率可能在促进和优先考虑明智的，全房屋改进的类型方面发挥作用，从而真正有所作为。
Thanks for all the great comments
Very much appreciate the dialogue this post generated. As usual, I wasn't actually serious about outlawing advertising of "green" products, just trying to make a point that, not unlike political campaigns, those with the biggest budgets often win over those with better ideas or products. I guess that's the cost of living in a capitalist society. Regarding Sabina's comment on solar panels, I have no real objection to solar power, but when I see people install PV on an oversized, not particularly well constructed home that is filled with electronics and appliances and lights that are on many hours when the house is unoccupied, it makes my blood boil. Just build it right and turns stuff off, then you can have all the PV you want.
With a little conciousness, solar might inspire you to conserve
For a certain type of person, generating your own electricity might make you much more aware of your use.
Once you see your solar production approaching your monthly consumption, you start to find ways to do better, and eke out that positive month now and then. At least, that's what I do. ;)
当然,如果它只是一个feel-good status symbol and youstilldon't read your power bills, it probably won't help. :)
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