No Climate Bill? No Problem! Time for a New “Standard of Care” in Building Design
Is a bad climate bill better than none at all? Maybe the new stripped-down energy bill, with efficiency standards for appliances, homes and buildings, is a better approach.
As Bill McDonough says, “regulation is a sign of design failure.” And design failure is what we have, on a massive scale, on the part of architects, engineers, builders and building operators. Where are the architects and engineers demanding (!) that clients build energy efficient buildings? Few and far between, in my experience.
Case in point, a current LEED-seeking project in our shop that aims at less than 20% improvement over ASHRAE 90.1-2007, with renewable energy less than 2% of the total. This does not represent very adventurous design on the part of any of the participants, IMHO, yet is pretty typical of what’s being done day after day.
Isn’t it time for the design professions to step up and enact a new climate-sensitive “standard of care” as the basis for design? What about building operators and homeowners? Will buildings even be operated as well as designed? If we think that national regulation of power plant emissions is going to do anything for climate change, I suggest that we’re all sadly mistaken. Better to focus on end use demand and let controlling the supply end play out over time. By installing better windows, solar hot water and PV, along with a new SEER-17 A/C unit this year, I have brought my own (year 2000 standard builder unit) home down to a HERS rating of 84, 16% more energy efficient than a home built to the 2009 International Energy Code. I drive a hybrid and don’t commute to work, saving beaucoup gasoline. Have all others concerned about climate change taken similar actions at their own homes and businesses?
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