CB

Green building is currently in the process of being defined (please see the canadian green building council website www.cagbc.org ), but it generally does use some new engineered technologies and innovations that old school carpenters may not be familiar with, making it more expensive and more difficult to do. This raises the question of whether or not it is worth the added cost and trouble, that is if you can find someone who really knows how to do it.

Doing it properly is the key. Green building is meant to address all parts of the building simultaneously, creating a system that works together as healthfully and harmoniously as possible. Energy use, water use, and air quality are all important design elements, and all need to work together. This really requires a whole new way of designing buildings, and raises the question of how the new “green” building products can really integrate themselves into the old way of doing things. Using just one or two green building products to raise your buildings profile may be a hazardous proposal, and not to your benefit. Here is a story that may illustrate my point.

I went to a new “urban eclectic” condo development recently to look around. The units were well-priced, not too expensive at all, and modern looking. The sales person told me that they could not create affordable units using green building, but that they did go as far as to have triple paned LEED quality windows. (tapping the glass) As I walked around I noticed the new carpet, linoleum, adhesive attached plastic tub surround, mdf mouldings. Pretty much everything else in the building was as gluey and manufactured as you can get. I could smell the formaldehyde from the carpet. Suddenly the triple-paned barely-openable green windows made the condo seem like a death trap! Holy Shit! Get some fresh air in here people! I’m not a crazy person! Am I really the only one who can smell this?!

Green building, with LEED as its forerunner, is primarily concerned with efficient energy management. LEED stands for The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Using Energy efficiently is in itself is a noble cause, however the energy that it is using efficiently is often the same old fossil fuels. This is a recognized drawback to believing in LEED being the future of sustainable design. Sealing the building completely so that you can utilize every square inch of hot air your gas furnace or geothermal heating system pumps out seems to make sense to conserve energy but the danger is there, especially if you go halfway like the condo developers did, of trapping dangerous fumes inside your house with you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when looking at green building products:
How is this made? What sort of chemicals does it contain? What sort of processing does it undergo?
Where is this made? How far did each component travel before getting here?
How is this really going to benefit me? and most importantly, How will this work with the rest of my building?