Mark,
I couldn't agree with you more about transportation being the real
energy problem not the materials. If you have ever looked at the
kilowatt hours for a tank of unleaded gasoline it is over 500kw/h's
three times my monthly electric bill. Just doing a two hour drive to
the largest city and back is three months of powering my home.
On Aug 16, 2007, at 10:15 AM, Mark Piepkorn
<duckchow@potkettleblack.com> wrote:
> At 11:29 AM 8/16/2007, slurryguy wrote:
>> Take a step back and look at the big picture.
>>
>> A couple of weeks ago, two friends of mine were arguing about whether
>> it was more efficient to drive with the windows rolled down, or the
>> air conditioner on.
>
> Which segues to an issue to think about that's far larger
> than the operating energy of buildings: the transportation energy
> associated with them. A superinsulated house in the country occupied
> by a commuting individual is in almost every case going to be more
> environmentally damaging than if the commuting party lived in a
> 'normal' house where they could take advantage of public
> transportation, bike, walk, or even drive fewer miles to their job
> and services.
>
> The average daily commute in the U.S. is 12 miles, one way.
> Getting to and from our buildings uses far more energy than our
> buildings do.
>
> Inverting the quandary, workers in the average office
> building use 30% more energy getting to and from work than the
> building itself uses.
>
> Of course, all of this gets incredibly messy in no time at
> all, with a million mitigating factors. But there it is. Like you
> said, we need to "step back and look at the big picture."
>
>
> Mark Piepkorn
> www.potkettleblack.com
>
> If you want to waste your time,
> scatter millet and pick it up again.
> - graffiti from Pompeii, 79 A.D.
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/papercreters/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:papercreters-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:papercreters-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
papercreters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
