no sustainability no planet

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tyson on April 23, 2010 at 9:19am

Great post Estella. I agree that we need to encourage sustainable practices. I don't know if governments will help with that effort or not, but either way we need to keep educating the people on the benefits of sustainable practices so that the demand for those services increases with the general public.

Permalink Reply by Albert DUBLER on April 24, 2010 at 9:21am

Do not look for incentives and non-taxation, do responsible architecture as poor people do in growing countries. The only problem is to learn to share. If everybody shares the available resources and the liability of the impacts on environment, the future becomes beautifull

Permalink Reply by Suellen Maia on April 24, 2010 at 9:56am

It is still too expensive to work with solar panels when we talk about individuals, that's why we usually cannot talk about sustainable house, we should talk about sustainable neighborhood or city - or even planet , I wish! Governments should help, in Brazil we have, sun, wind, water, all free and renewable energy sources, the government don't even think about it though, it doens't give them money. People, at least here, where money is a big deal, need to know that those sources pay off and then they start to save money. We, as designers, should let them know that they would help the planet and save money, it's a win win deal.
In architecture we need to think not only about the material, but also about the energy, the water, wastewater.. reducing, reusing and recicling, right?

Permalink Reply by Autumn Godwin-Hoffmeier on June 27, 2011 at 11:23am

Actually, the practice that's been taken on by many countries in the EU, especially the UK, is what's called Feed In Tariffs (FIT).  It's also gaining momentum in the US, as in California's 2008 program which allowed anyone whose system is producing more electricity than they need to sell the excess back to the utility, thus reducing their electric bill.  Please refer to the Wikipedia Article.

 

The biggest problem with having taxation removed from "sustainability projects and goods" is the verification process.  Who's to say what is sustainable?  The last 10 years has seen a boom in what's now termed "green washing".  There are companies out there to verify the "truthiness" of such claims, however the process is slow, admittedly.