Eco-ishness
The Washington Post Magazine this past week had a long article on Earthaven, which is an eco-village not far from Asheville.
We haven't been out to see the place, though they do give tours, because to me it kind of seems like going to see hippies in the zoo. We have always been kind of interested in green building though. Our modular house is a very, very slight effort in that direction, since factory-built housing involves less materials waste, but frankly we did it more for the cost savings than anything.
That seems to be the problem with most green building techniques - expense. We have gone on several tours of energy-efficient and other such homes around western NC and they're always interesting, but the owners always tell you that if you're interested in green building to save money, forget it because it will cost you more to get started than you will likely ever recoup in savings in the real world.
I don't know if I'm optimistic enough to think that technological advances will come up with a perpetual energy-generating doohickey quickly enough to save us all from ecological doom, but we'd better hope so. I suspect there are relatively few people, even in Asheville, willing to shell out big bucks to be able to eliminate so many of life's luxuries. I bet most people are like us - all in favor of energy efficiency and willing to do anything for it as long as it doesn't cost too much more and comes with a DVD instruction manual that we can watch on the plasma.
We haven't been out to see the place, though they do give tours, because to me it kind of seems like going to see hippies in the zoo. We have always been kind of interested in green building though. Our modular house is a very, very slight effort in that direction, since factory-built housing involves less materials waste, but frankly we did it more for the cost savings than anything.
That seems to be the problem with most green building techniques - expense. We have gone on several tours of energy-efficient and other such homes around western NC and they're always interesting, but the owners always tell you that if you're interested in green building to save money, forget it because it will cost you more to get started than you will likely ever recoup in savings in the real world.
I don't know if I'm optimistic enough to think that technological advances will come up with a perpetual energy-generating doohickey quickly enough to save us all from ecological doom, but we'd better hope so. I suspect there are relatively few people, even in Asheville, willing to shell out big bucks to be able to eliminate so many of life's luxuries. I bet most people are like us - all in favor of energy efficiency and willing to do anything for it as long as it doesn't cost too much more and comes with a DVD instruction manual that we can watch on the plasma.
posted by Matt | 11:12 PM
1 Comments:
I think you raise an excellent point, Matt. I've talked to a lot of people who are enthusiastic about green building who don't always understand that it's an EXTRA. There seems to be a lot of wishful thinking in this area. I totally support anyone who decides to spend more money and use more eco-friendly materials; I just hope it's a conscious choice.
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