Seems that Scott Adams of Dilbert fame learned some hard-won lessons while building his eco-friendly house. (Word to the wise: it doesn’t have to be this difficult!)
As you might expect, his piece in the Wall Street Journal is an entertaining read, though it does miss some key take-aways from Passive House and Home Performance. Perhaps my biggest point of contention with Adams is his argument that green homes are necessarily ugly. Au contraire! We know from experience that green homes can be stunningly beautiful … it does take the right designer, though, and a good design-build process.
Favorite quote, spoken in jest:
“The greenest home is the one you don’t build. If you really want to save the Earth, move in with another family and share a house that’s already built. Better yet, live in the forest and eat whatever the squirrels don’t want. Don’t brag to me about riding your bicycle to work; a lot of energy went into building that bicycle. Stop being a hypocrite like me.”
Point well taken. Technically speaking, he’s right … though of course turning to squirrel castoffs is an extreme solution. Mainly I appreciate the admonishment to “stop being a hypocrite like me,” a reminder that we can afford to dispense with holier-than-thou attitudes as we work to build greener.
Though, just for the record, I ride my bike to work. (Okay, okay. Sorry. Didn’t mean that.)
-Zack
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