Forget the Car -- It's the Building

Most people in the US know that it's environmentally unsound to drive an SUV. Even those who drive them. Drive a Hummer and you might as well be raping Mother Earth.

So, it may come as a surprise that them major energy users are not motorized vehicles. Buildings are the big culprit. How much worse are buildings? I had 2 big software vendors differ on this. One said buildings use up 75% of the energy, another said half. Anyway, it's a lot!

The big 3 software vendors of AEC (Autodesk, Bentley and Graphisoft) each tell me their solutions will make architects more aware of the environmental impact of their designs. More on that later...

I'm reevaluating my dream of a big house with a couple of Priuses in the circular driveway.  Once this news gets out, my dream house may be plastered with "I'm raping the earth, ask me how" stickers courtesy of Marin enviro-radicals. 

Comments

[Amruta A. H.]

Very true. Apart from building architecture, a larger picture is in play and fast gaining importance. I recently read some good books on urban planning, green walkable cities and more on the same lines. Blocks with tree-shaded sidewalks for pedestrians would soon be a rarity, or so it seems. The fact that people are actually writing books on it is argument enough against its ubiquitous existence.
Having said that, I would not let the SUVs off the hook either. Blame game is too easy to play. When we call her our Mother Earth and hurt her, it hardly matters whether the pain inflicted is less or more. What matters is that it hurts her...