Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. We have all heard the slogan and hopefully most of u do something to try to apply it to our daily lives. How does it apply to housing? When people ask me what I do, I tell them that I recycle houses. That is almost always good for some questions about what I mean. This series of three blogs will be an attempt to explain what I mean by recycling houses and it may give you an opportunity to look at things in a different way.
REDUCE - Seems obvious, doesn't it" Use less, Build smaller. Okay. On one level, it can be that simple and that will make a difference. Out with the McMansion, in with the cottage. Good first step. Or, you can even stay where you are if you are in one of those larger than it really needs to be houses and make a number of changes that might not affect your lifestyle all that much and still have a significant impact. All of us making a few small changes can have a huge impact on the overall picture. For examples you might look to see what your Carbon Footprint is currently and how you can reduce it.
Yes, the programmable thermostat does work and you don't have to remember anything once it is set. If your home is older and you are replacing a furnace think about getting the most efficient unit yo can and about one that can be paired with your cooling system. CFL and LED lights help a lot, but you do need to be more careful about disposing of them when they finally burn out. A caulk gun and a roll of weatherstripping can be your new best friends. Conservation is the real key to reduction.None of the things I have just listed require lifestye changes. While you are programming the thermostat, you could consider setting it a couple of degrees lower and wearing a sweater inside. If yo want a bigger lifestyle change, make a small donation to Heifer International and help someone buy a sheep or other fiber animal that can provide both fiber and meat for survival. They will give someone else offspring from their animal and you can take up a new hobby or resume an old one. Make the socks and sweaters to keep you and your family or housemates toasty warm with organic fibers or recycled yarn. New hobby, productive time that can be spent with family and friends who will really appreciate it. Try to use fibers produced closer to hope but know that the (carbon)cost of transporting the yarn is a lot less than the (carbon)cost to produce synthetic fibers like acrylic which is a petroleum product).
Insulate your hot water heater. Think about a solar hot water system. Use rain barrels to collect water for landscaping. Use edible landscaping and don't fertilize it except with compost. There are lots of chemicals in many fertilizers that should not be ingested by human beings. They eventually wind up in the groundwater that goes into the drinking water system. Reducing the amount of poisons in the groundwater should be a goal we can all support. While we are reducing chemicals in the groundwater, you might consider rethinking your cleaning products too. Are your windows and mirrors really any cleaner than your grandmother's were when she used vinegar and water to clean them? Probably not. Nor were there any toxic fumes from the vinegar.
If you really want to focus on reduce, you might become one of the number of people who have divided their too large space and morphed it into two or more living spaces. Some limitations may be placed on this option by local zoning regulations but my point is simply that a 3000 square foot McMansion could easily become 2 1500 square foot or 3 1,000 square foot residences given enough creativity, resources and the will to make it so. Reducing is not necessarily about saving money although if you start with the caulk gun, insulation and programmable thermostat it is likely to save quite a few pennies. It is about using fewer resources in order to preserve them for others who share the planet with us.
As a final comment I would like to note that an early advocate of small, elegant homes was Frank Lloyd Wright. He designed Usonian Houses as small as about 870 square feet. The Jacobs House is generally acknowledged as the first Usonian House and was built in 1937. Never one to tackle small problems, Wright wrote in 1938 " We cannot have an organic architecture unless we have an organic society." I think he would be frustrated to see how long it has taken us to get his message but I think he would be happy to see that we are making progress.
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Have you noticed the increased attention in Green? Actually, the term Green is going away, so we are hearing Sustainable, Durable, Eco Friendly. The terms being used change everyday.