1. In your book, A Conservationist Manifesto, you focus primarily on changes for a more sustainable life occurring on the individual/personal level. How do you feel about changes that happen in a more top-down manner? Can the type of change we need be accomplished at a government level? Or would those actions be nullified in the case of an unchanging attitudes on the individual level?
2. Do you feel that an etymological approach to complex problems (such as the one you use in the chapter "A Few Earthy Words") is always helpful? Is there ever a risk that historical definitions do more to complicate than simplify a situation?
3. For the busy-scheduled person who "doesn't have time" to start a garden or knit a sweater, is lack of time an acceptable argument for not practicing some of the tactics you advocate in your book? To what extent should we make time for sustainable practices?
4. As a appreciator of words, how do you feel about products being labeled as 'green'?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Paper Outline
My question, very generally, is how are building codes/regulations established? I will be looking at the U.S. building codes with special attention to the regulations concerning energy, and comparing that to equivalent building policies in other developed/developing countries.
While government certification programs such as LEED are providing the incentive for building more efficient and environmentally thoughtful structures, they are just that--incentive. Building code and policy provide a legal standard to which buildings can be constructed. That said, a radical upgrade of these codes could initiate a mandatory LEED-like building sector. After hearing Thomas Friedman and Bill Brown (Director of the Office of Sustainability) speak on related topics, I feel that strict policy on a large scale has the potential to make a credible difference in unsustainable practices. By examining building regulations around the world which have radically changed what a 'to-code' building should consist of, we can start to better understand how the U.S. system might be improved.
My thesis is that building-code policy is heavily influenced by utility prices. Cheap access to electricity or clean water implores buildings to be built with lights and faucets that take full advantage of those artificially 'sweetened' prices. While an efficient water-heater or dual-flush toilette system would indeed save the extra cost of the investment and more, the prices of utilities do not honestly reflect their environmental cost and, therefore, do not have as much of an impact on sustainable construction.
Some of the sources I'll be using include the Buildings Energy Data Book, various newspaper articles, Statistics Denmark, and the International Code Council.
Firstly, defining and explaining the nature of building codes in the U.S. will be an important first step. Who is involved in the writing of the code and the administering of the code will also be important to our overall understanding of this complex procedure. Much of the complexity is derived from the fact that building code in the U.S. is set at a local or state level. While the ICC has a written 'national' building code, local and state regulations are much more often adhered to.
Next, what factors are considered when code is written will tell us about where these regulations can be changed. Proximity to fresh water would hypothetically have a severe influence on shower-head standards.
Next I will explore where building codes have taken a more sustainable turn (California, Denmark). Understanding how these standards were put in place will help to better understand how the U.S. building codes can be upgraded.
While government certification programs such as LEED are providing the incentive for building more efficient and environmentally thoughtful structures, they are just that--incentive. Building code and policy provide a legal standard to which buildings can be constructed. That said, a radical upgrade of these codes could initiate a mandatory LEED-like building sector. After hearing Thomas Friedman and Bill Brown (Director of the Office of Sustainability) speak on related topics, I feel that strict policy on a large scale has the potential to make a credible difference in unsustainable practices. By examining building regulations around the world which have radically changed what a 'to-code' building should consist of, we can start to better understand how the U.S. system might be improved.
My thesis is that building-code policy is heavily influenced by utility prices. Cheap access to electricity or clean water implores buildings to be built with lights and faucets that take full advantage of those artificially 'sweetened' prices. While an efficient water-heater or dual-flush toilette system would indeed save the extra cost of the investment and more, the prices of utilities do not honestly reflect their environmental cost and, therefore, do not have as much of an impact on sustainable construction.
Some of the sources I'll be using include the Buildings Energy Data Book, various newspaper articles, Statistics Denmark, and the International Code Council.
Firstly, defining and explaining the nature of building codes in the U.S. will be an important first step. Who is involved in the writing of the code and the administering of the code will also be important to our overall understanding of this complex procedure. Much of the complexity is derived from the fact that building code in the U.S. is set at a local or state level. While the ICC has a written 'national' building code, local and state regulations are much more often adhered to.
Next, what factors are considered when code is written will tell us about where these regulations can be changed. Proximity to fresh water would hypothetically have a severe influence on shower-head standards.
Next I will explore where building codes have taken a more sustainable turn (California, Denmark). Understanding how these standards were put in place will help to better understand how the U.S. building codes can be upgraded.
Questions for Emilie Rex and Jacqui Bauer
Emilie Rex
1. How hard was it to concentrate on your sustainability audit of Upland Brewery when the beer was free, and in what ways did that experience help you in assessing the sustainability of some of IU's buildings/departments/programs?
2. What seem to be the most effective means of getting people involved/invested in the energy challenge? Did this fall's competition seem to vary much in comparison with last spring's?
3. As a relatively new Office of Sustainability, where do you look, if you do, for role models in the field? To whom do you look when addressing a new campus issue?
Jacqui Bauer
1. As Bloomington's first Sustainability Coordinator, what do you find is most important about your job? Specifically, what sort of example are you trying to set for future Bloomington Sustainability Coordinators to come?
2. What measures are being taken to expand/better the already quite successful Hoosier to Hoosier Community Sale in August of next year?
3. How do you feel about your position's placement within the office Economic Development?
1. How hard was it to concentrate on your sustainability audit of Upland Brewery when the beer was free, and in what ways did that experience help you in assessing the sustainability of some of IU's buildings/departments/programs?
2. What seem to be the most effective means of getting people involved/invested in the energy challenge? Did this fall's competition seem to vary much in comparison with last spring's?
3. As a relatively new Office of Sustainability, where do you look, if you do, for role models in the field? To whom do you look when addressing a new campus issue?
Jacqui Bauer
1. As Bloomington's first Sustainability Coordinator, what do you find is most important about your job? Specifically, what sort of example are you trying to set for future Bloomington Sustainability Coordinators to come?
2. What measures are being taken to expand/better the already quite successful Hoosier to Hoosier Community Sale in August of next year?
3. How do you feel about your position's placement within the office Economic Development?
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