GreenBuild Blog
Sunday, February 10, 2008
How Real Are “Green Collar” Jobs?
Let’s take a look, with a focus on green buildings and solar technology (this is not the whole of the argument for green collar jobs, but is instructive nonetheless). In the green building arena, the Holy Grail of all designers and builders is to build high-performance, LEED-certified buildings at the same cost as conventional “brown” buildings. If there’s no cost increase, there’s no net increase in jobs, plain and simple, Economics 101. What we’ll have is the same contractors (and people) installing different systems and equipment. When we look at on-site renewable energy production, we’ll obviously have an increase in solar electric systems, as the costs for these come down over time, so there are some “new jobs” being created, but primarily with federal tax credits (set to expire this coming December) and utility incentive payments. If there are no federal tax credits, look for the rapid growth of the solar electric industry to come to a screeching halt in 2009. The same thing happened in 1986 in the U.S., when federal tax credits (and in the case of California, state tax credits) expired at the end of 1985. The industry lost 90 percent of sales (and jobs) almost overnight and (in the case of solar water heating) has never recovered. Do I think the same thing is likely to happen this time? Probably not, because the concern about global warming will likely keep most federal, state and utility incentives in place. But remember one truth of economics; if I rob Peter to pay Paul, I haven’t gained any economic benefit or created any new jobs. I’ve just transferred the jobs from Peter’s company to Paul’s. If I take tax revenues and utility payments to subsidize one form of green technology, there’s less money left over for other investments. It’s only if these investments result in greater productivity do I gain any new jobs.
Posted by Jerry on 02/10/2008 at 11:39 AM
This entry has been viewed 528 times.
PermalinkFriday, February 01, 2008
Zen: An Excerpt from Jerry Yudelson’s “Green Building A to Z”
My wife and I have an ongoing discussion about how “perfect” things need to be around the home. She likes to have everything “just right.” I keep telling her to consider instead the Zen concept of “wabisabi,” which appeals more to me. Wabisabi acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. It implies that how one chooses to look at things is the most important determinant of how satisfied one is with the world. To quote a well known phrase from yoga philosophy, “The world is as you see it.”
Zen is about being satisfied with little things, finding reflections of the cosmos in a bed of sand and gravel, a few well placed boulders and a sprinkling of natural elements such as grasses. As William Blake wrote in “Auguries of Innocence” more than two centuries ago, you approach the sacred when you manage “to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.”
What does this have to do with green buildings? It is this: we need to celebrate what we have achieved, even while we remain insistent on getting better in the future. We need to be aware that each green building is going to have imperfections: things attempted but not achieved, things not at tempted that in retrospect could have been accomplished, but didn’t fit with the design team’s vision or the owner’s conception of the project. A Zen approach to green buildings would celebrate also what’s special about the place, its particular location on the planet. Perhaps to further this approach, each building could be gifted with a simple haiku, an epigraph at the entrance.
As for a Zen inspired building, a good example might be the Green Gulch Zen Center Guest House, in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Muir Beach, north of San Francisco. According to the project designer, architect Sim van der Ryn:
The guest house serving the Green Gulch Zen Center is sensitively designed to minimize its visibility and physical impact on site. The octagonal plan and simple elegance of the 12room guest house reflect the Asian origins of Zen Buddhism. The building’s centering geometry is further articulated by a two story central core, used as a gathering and meeting space.
The design of the guest house supports and respects the human search for beauty. Handcrafted Japanese joinery is used throughout the house with strict attention to detail. The building incorporates recycled timbers and a passive solar heating system designed to meet human needs without destroying the fabric of the living world. [This] is a truly peaceful place.
Click here to download the PDF version.
Posted by Sky on 02/01/2008 at 06:02 PM
This entry has been viewed 531 times.
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