eco house tour
so I didnt actually complete the Calgary Eco-home tour. I did the out door part, and had to leave with the kids when everyone went indoors. I will go back next month for the second half.
I find this eco-house interesting for lots of reasons, but the main reason is the fact that is is located in suburban Calgary. It proves that it doesn’t matter where you live, you can make major changes and live an alternative lifestyle anywhere. The house is very practical, using inexpensive solutions that give the greatest benefits. The house is not connected to the City’s water or gas systems. The fact that it almost requires no heat in an Alberta winter is inspiration in itself.
What is most confusing about visiting this house, is why mainstream developers have been so slow to act on the technologies and ideas that the eco house has been demonstrating for 17 years! Many of the ideas are simple, inexpensive and available. It seems so odd there hasn’t been more of a market for sustainable housing. Perhaps there needs to be more professionals out there with the knowledge and expertise, or we as consumers need to demand more. Regardless, this project is a testament to how truly practical and effortless major changes can be.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:04 am
I’m reading Paul Hawken’s ‘The Ecology of Commerce’ right now and, like Calgary Eco-Home, was published 17 years ago. What’s really troubling is the stuff he was writing about nearly two decades ago were big problems then – problems that we still largely have today and have grown more dire. Hawken’s subsequent books (and many more authors) have argued (with examples) that corporations that go against the grain and embrace real, substantial sustainable practices make money in the long run through savings in efficiency and employee satisfaction with their work. Unfortunately, there is still a perception in industry that embracing sustainability (and the economy really taking into account the true costs environmentally in their matrix) is not profitable – which is true in the short-term because of the way the market is currently rigged against sustainable practices. I daresay in many ways the mainstream developers are an extension of the mainstream energy industry in that with the pursuit of profit they are not really interested in cost effectiveness: they want to keep housing as expensive as the unsustainable market permits for their annual bottom line. They also, probably, have long-term relationships with a web of companies that provide cheap manufactured material & labor who all profit at the status quo – so why would they change and risk that profit? You are probably right about professionals with expertise and consumers demanding better to make change – as well as changing the market game to perceive itself as a part of a larger, natural system and not divorced from it. Or am I just crazy?
March 31st, 2010 at 1:13 pm
well put Cam. well put. And, nope, I don’t think you are crazy, housing stock providing the market with only one option is crazy.