As Kermit the frog might have said, “I was green before it was popular to be green.”
The “Green” movement has its roots in the late 60’s with the “back-to-the land” movement----when people really started to think not just about alternative life styles but different methods of building----including sustainability. It could easily be argued that the father and mother of the back-to-the-land movement were Helen and Scott Nearing. They started “Living the Good Life” in 1932---a logical reaction to the Great Depression. (Is this starting to sound like déjà vu all over again?) Prior to Helen and Scott there were various other societal breakaways from the Shakers & Quakers to the Pilgrims----but these were more religious than geo-political----but nonetheless some of the early “green roots”----if only in attitude.
By the time an idea becomes mainstream, trendy, or common, it has usually had its roots planted at another time----growing, mutating and blossoming into its current form.
My own roots as a builder began in 1971, living off the land in rural upstate NY, in a Ferro-cement dome----and I was a huge fan of Helen and Scott.
There is an old article in a 1978 issue of Mother Earth News that talks about the prototype for a much larger one that my first wife Jill and I built. (My oldest daughter was born in the dome.) At the time, I was really into building with very simple readily available materials----I quickly learned that this desire had to be balanced with the ability to heat the dang thing efficiently. It would have made a better chicken coop.
Eventually my house designs evolved into what became commonly known as “Passive Solar”----where passive (non mechanical) construction techniques were used to improve the energy efficiency of the home. These approaches, among other things, included more insulation, and orientation of the home to take advantage of the sun----which would result in increasing the amount of windows in the path of the sun, while decreasing them elsewhere.
The “mature” theory of my houses is simple.
Think of the house as an extremely well insulated bubble sunk into the ground far enough to be in contact with the point where ground temperature is constant. In rural upstate NY, by the time you dug out your basement, a constant ground temperature of 45-50° F would be reached. In other areas of the country, like in the South, this constant ground temperature would likely be reached much quicker.
What this “Insulated Bubble” approach does, is create a scenario where when it comes time to heat your home, your starting-point temperature is never going to be below 45° F----the constant ground temperature. Most houses in Syracuse, NY, at some point in the winter, will frequently have to be heated from a starting point of -23° F----the outdoor (ambient) temperature. The amount of energy required to heat a home from -23° F to +72° F (a 100° difference) is MUCH, MUCH more than from +45° F to +72° F (a 27° difference).
This access to the constant ground temperature also allows the home to stay naturally cooler in the summer reducing the need (and associated costs) of mechanical cooling (air conditioning). By balancing the amount of thermal mass in the home, fluctuations of temperatures within the home can be seasonally moderated.
In my opinion the “Green” movement has not paid enough attention to the energy saving aspects of homes and yet part of its mission is to lower the use of fossil fuels. While changing your light bulbs to CFL’s is a good thing to do, it is nothing like what a revolution in the way homes are designed and built would do. Every day, homes that meet the “highest certifications” of the green movement are being built completely disconnected from the earth----vented crawl spaces with insulated floors. Metaphorically speaking, it is usually a good idea to stay connected to Mother Earth. No matter how well insulated these homes are, the low end starting-point temperature and the desired indoor temperature difference, is never going to approach 25-30 degrees.
It is easy to get caught up in the “hype” and “smoke-and-mirrors” of Carbon Credits; or, taking farm land out of food production to support bio-diesel. Since the early 70’s there have been simpler more cost effective ways to actually reduce the use of fossil fuels and ease our guilty conscience at the same time. While, as a transition, Carbon Credits may be necessary to encourage business to do the right thing, is it the right thing to give Carbon Credits to companies that make things we don’t REALLY need? You know the things I am talking about----the things that recycle from yard sale to yard sale? How much oil could be saved annually if businesses were not allowed to run the signs on their buildings when they aren’t open?
This leads me to conclude that there are many different colors of frogs----and that not all green is green----but it is getting there.
Charles Buell
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Click on the Rose 
to check out: AHA!---A Forum of Landmark Proportions---your Group
PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)
all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.
My WORDLESS WEDNESDAY pictures and some selected POEMS & STORIES.
Charles, what a great article. There are many things that can be done to be more 'green' effective. I just hope large corporations don't exploit it like they do with everything else.
Charles you ol' beatnick you...that was pretty cool. So you built that in 2 days? Ok where was the potty? I must have missed that part.
Love reading the links, thanks!
Tony, thanks---corporations will always find a way to make money:)
Cynthia----I am sure there is some "hyperbole" in the "2 days"----we probably put the cement covering on in two days:)
One more thing Charles, love the frog photos, I'm a frog lovin' girl!
Cynthia---are you trying to say that you have kissed a few?
Oh goodness no Charles, heaven forbid, they were all princes ;) You are too funny!
Well, Cynthia if that is you in your picture----I know you are right:)
Great article, Charles - good luck on your contest entry!
Jeff, thanks. While it is a mere pittance compared to some of the big AR gods----your comment pushed me over the 10,000 comments received bar:)
My bread machine was beeping...I'm back. Yep that's me Charles...I'm a bit taller now.
I really like your new action picture, it's very cool!
Mr Charles,
Many of my family members were very green Some still are. Warning, naked squirrel photo to folllow.
Cynthia, I am not sure if you have seen this post I did a while back, but if you like frogs you may like it:
Have you ever kissed a frog?
Nutsy----as long as we don't have to deal with your boss naked.
Charles, good post, I think I have that copy of M.E., I didn't birth any children in a dome- You get the points for that one. be good cheryl
Cheryl---sounds like you have some collectors items.
"How much oil could be saved annually if businesses were not allowed to run the signs on their buildings when they aren’t open?"
I never really thought about it, but the savings could be staggering!
Jeanne, thanks----there are probably hundreds of similiar examples that to me seem to contradict any "real" desire to make a difference.
Hello Charles. Great article. I agree with much of what you wrote--particularly about energy efficiency. At EcoBroker we always train our students that a watt saved is one that you don't have to produce with fossil fuels. Further, helping clients perform energy retrofits is a great way to earn their trust, gain future business, and increase your referrals.
I would, however, have to challenge your assertation that the green movement has its roots in the 60s. I think the following article does a great job of tracing the history of the green movement: http://webecoist.com/2008/08/17/a-brief-history-of-the-modern-green-movement/
Ryan, thanks for your response and the link. The link is very informative and speaks well to the roots of the movement and also as the difficulty of isolating its roots----certainly Thoreau was a huge influence. For me in the 60's there was just a huge "blossoming" of interest that drew from a lot of earlier roots. Some day the current "blossoming" of interest will be seen as part of the movements growth as well.
We have a place in our MLS sheet to check if the house is a "Green" house. What exactly is a green house? None of us know!
Barbara, I think you will get a gazillion answers to that question to the point that you almost might as well go with the color:) Just kidding----but barely. It usually means that it has to meet the requirements of one of the "official" listing agencies like Leeds----or several other green associations. There is still no real consensus on what constitutes "green"----but it will get worked out eventually I think.
Energy efficiency is something I have had an interest in for a long time. Being a home inspector has helped me get into energy auditing. It seems to me that there is some misconception about efficiency and being Green. I have found that some who want to be green ignore energy efficiency. I mean bamboo flooring and low VOC paints are great, but your homes daily energy consumption is by far the biggest impact on the planet.
I recall an audit I did on a home where they had put up solar panel and were in the process of installing a solar water heating system. The problem I saw was they were spending lots of money to "save " on energy and their home was terribly inefficient. The walls and floor joist were not insulated, they had an old and grossly over sized boiler that looked like it hadn't been serviced in 10 years and other issues.
They had spent 10s of thousands of dollars on those PVs and the water heating and were not making any significant impact on their enegry bills let alone reducing their carbon foot print.
"is it the right thing to give Carbon Credits to companies that make things we don't REALLY need?"
We have spoken before about what we really need and what we want. Our needs are very minimal, our wants are many. I think it's time we learn the difference.
James, thanks for the great comment. This gets at a point I had to wrestle with when I first started building. It became apparent very quickly that the quickest payback on expensive solar and other mechanical aspects of solar systems was on the houses that were the least energy efficient. The more energy efficient the house becomes, the longer the payback----sometimes to the point of not being justifiable. For example in the 70's it was common to see homes with heating bills of over a thousand dollars a year. If you could put in a solar heating system that could reduce that heating bill by 75 percent, the payback would be relatively short. Now take the same house built to the highest "passive" solar standards and the heating bill was reduced to 200 dollars a year it would take forever to pay it back----you would most likely have to replace the system before it would ever pay for itself.
Charles~
I know the judges are going to love this post! And I am going to ask the Rain Gods to Feature it...
Thanks JaneAnne----it is a subject dear to my heart----and I really appreciat the opportunity to put it out there.
What is great and unique about the audits I do is the report takes into account inter relations between upgrades. In other words, and as you touched on, by doing one improvement there is a quicker pay off than there is doing two or more. It is an honest and useful assessment.
I wrote a blog a while back about how sometimes people will improve their homes with their hearts and not their minds. Energy Efficiency Putting the Cart Before the Horse Hope you don't mind me putting in the link, but I think it's relative to the theme.
James thanks for adding to the conversation.
James,
You have really waked the walk. Great post.
Good luck in the contest.
John Keene
John thanks and whether you are talking to me or James----I would like to think you are accurate:)
Very kindly,
Croakster
P.s. If your goal is carbon savings you would NOT be using CFL's...
Croakster, is that why you are primarily employed as a door stop?
I have never read your posts before...you are very clever indeed! All I can say is that the future of Green is very exciting. The more I learn the more I want to do and learn!
Hi Diane, glad you found me. As much as I whine about some aspects of the Green Movement---most of its heart is in the right place and certainly better than the alternative of doing nothing or not caring.
By the way, in Pasadena CA, where I sold real estate for 15 years before moving to NC, a great architect, Wallace Neff, had buit one of his concrete igloo/dome concept homes. He sprayed the concrete onto a balloon form. It was called "The Bubble House" and was built in 1946. He started these in 1930's!
Diane, an excellent point that is also a pet peeve of mine. These simple technologies to save the planet have been around for a LONG time. I mean a REALLY LOOOOOOONG time, relative to current interest:) Here is a link to an article about the "Bubble House" also known as the "Flintstone House."
You are welcome any time.
Very kindly,
Croakster
P.s. There is NOTHING we arrogant children can do to "Save the Planet."
It is in quite good hands.
Croakster, I gotta say everything does indeed look fine in your world! Where is Mrs. Croakster and and Peter and Polywog?
Jay, one thing is for sure it was here long before us and clearly doesn't need us to exist:)
True, but it was made FOR us... we are the reason for its existence!
Catchy title! And the nice thing with living "green" is that there is actually room for frogs and other creatures around us!
Jay, the verdict may still be out on that:)
Silvia, and as we all know the more frogs there are the more likely a girl is to find a prince!
I love the "arrogant children" comment, and how it fits with his next comment...
That is all besides the fact that this post and you are quite amazing! I would love to learn more about your buildings.
Thanks!
Michael, thanks for the comment----sometime I should put together a more detailed post or series of posts about them.
Charles~.....
I want to highlight this important point you make..."...there are many different colors of frogs----and that not all green is green----but it is getting there.
JaneAnne, thanks-----one could pretty much discard everything before that sentence---but the post wouldn't have been as pretty:)
Hi Charles ~
What a wonderful post! and so informative! So many folks don't realize it's all about the "delta T!"
I agree when you say, "Metaphorically speaking, it is usually a good idea to stay connected to Mother Earth."
I think that is the true spirit of green! Thanks for a great read!
Hi Mary, thanks for commenting, and I am glad you enjoyed it.