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Authenticity and Adaptive Reuse

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I'm suddenly getting requests for interviews from various publications.  I suppose it's only natural with the saturation of all things "eco" in the media of late, and me being an EcoBroker®.  One question that is consistently asked is one I can appreciate.  Reporters want to know if I live in an eco-friendly home.  Now that green is the new black and ecological is fashionable and trendy, we are bound to be hit with waves of greenwash.  My fellow EcoBroker® Aaron Doyle gives some good advice on watching out for greenwash. 

It's great that people want to test my authenticity.  Don't get me wrong.  I've got a lot of room for improvement, but I do live in an eco-friendly home.  My home is ecological primarily as adaptive reuse, the use of an existing structure for a new purpose. It's the ultimate in recycling – the recycling of buildings. I live in an excellent example of adaptive reuse.  Hampton Lofts is a 100 year old sewing mill, converted to condominiums. My brother bought an old vacant building, got it re-zoned from commercial to residential and transformed it into 20 homes. No land was clear cut. Less new infrastructure was required and a minimal amount of new wood was used – we've got the original wood floors. The old ones could have been torn out, but they're just fine. It took 100 years to add the character they have.

The people that built these buildings before electricity was common knew what they were doing. They employed some natural energy-efficient principles to good effect. My home benefits from the principle of thermal mass. The brick walls are about three feet thick so they soak up heat like a battery, releasing it into the home when it cools and retaining it when it's warmer. We also have large windows so we take advantage of daylighting. And of course we've got the energy-efficient appliances, light bulbs, we composte, etc.

Don't be afraid to test the authenticity of the purveyors of green products and services.  They need to be "walking the walk" not just riding the gravy train.

Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2007 at 02:56PM by Registered CommenterBurke Sisco | CommentsPost a Comment | References1 Reference

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