I have to agree with many of Jeff’s comments in response to the news that American builders aren’t embracing green. But there are many ways in which the American perspective is changing in response to market conditions. It’s my fervent belief that those builder that aren’t changing their ways will get a wake up call when nobody wants to buy their houses.
Equating sustainability to building quality is entirely the way to go. There’s a thriving building quality movement in America that is expressed largely in the remodeling trade. Media outlets such as This Old House and Fine Homebuilding magazine tailor their content to that market, and there is a heavy emphasis on green aligned with quality. The trouble is that there’s also a lot of available land for development and people can get a new sprawling home with all-new fixtures for less than it costs to retrofit or build a high-quality green home new.
There has been a backlash against environmentalism in America. Spotted owls and other mandates have been equated with lost jobs and economic hardship. Slowly I think that sentiment is changing. The focus on greater efficiency and stewardship of our planet is gaining ground on both the left and the right. The We Campaign is a good example of this, but there are other hopeful signs.
The vast amount of land in America has made sprawl a real problem, but newer developments with a “New Urbanism” theme are all about density and community connections. I live in such a community and love the benefits of parks and open space that foster outdoor time and as a result more exposure to neighbors and closer community ties. The everyone-out-for-themselves mentality has grown stale in communities. Growth for growth’s sake is going away and communities are starting to learn that they hold the power against developers. There’s a growing understanding that sustainability plays heavily into quality of life.
On the point about more green products in the hardware stores of Europe, that may be the case. Having spent a good portion of the weekend at Home Depot for a landscaping project, I would say that there’s very little other than compact fluorescents that are sold based on “green” attributes or efficiencies. Those compact fluorescents are going quickly though, and as soon as we have affordable LED lights I think we’ll see a massive shift to those. When it comes to making green affordable, nothing will beat the consumption power of the American market to make green products ubiquitous.
Cheap energy is absolutely a problem. Consumers want to dictate green power on their terms, and many would be quite happy with coal as long as it continues to be the cheapest energy source. This is the area where policy can have the greatest impact. A tax on emissions would help level the playing field for renewable energy development, and over time renewables certainly have the potential to be the least expensive energy source.
The size of homes have gotten out of control, and I think there’s some good pushback on this now. In the new community that I live in there are several speculative large mansion homes that have sat vacant for nearly two years. The million dollar price tags and the whole sub-prime mortgage loan mess is a large part of this issue, but so are the rising costs of energy.
I love the simple message of green tied to quality and efficiency. We can do better for ourselves, while doing better for our environment. The self-centered perspective of Americans will not go away. We’re a land that’s built on the promise of the future, and the American psyche is still wrapped largely around making it big. The status of a huge house has had its appeal, with everyone striving for the biggest and the best. When being green can be factored into the status treadmill, then we’ll really get somewhere.
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