Now it seems to me to be reasonable common sense that the refurb and renovation (i.e. Re:Use) of any building ought to be less costly to the planet than building new from scratch, but, until this from Inside Housing, reporting on research undertaken by the Empty Homes Agency,I'd never seen any actual figures.
The CO2 "produced to build a new home is 4.5 times that needed to refurbish a long-term empty home".
"the carbon impact of the government's new homes target could be cut by 10 million tonnes if part of it was met by reusing and upgrading England's 288,000 long-term empty homes."
Sounds like a pretty reasonable win-win situation to me, but, despite this evidence, I really don't see our Gov reviewing its 'build - build - build' (even on flood plains) policy, do you?
Junkk.com promotes fun, reward-based e-practices, sharing oodles of info in objective, balanced ways. But we do have personal opinions, too! Hence this slightly ‘off of site, top of mind' blog by Junkk Male Peter. Hopefully still more ‘concerned mates’ than 'do this... or else' nannies, with critiques seen as constructive or of a more eyebrow-twitching ‘Oh, really?!' variety. Little that’s green can be viewed only in black and white.
Friday, March 21, 2008
2 comments:
I believe in freedom of speech. But I also don't like bullies on blogs, even verbal ones, as they can drive away those with something valid to say... or offer.
Subjective is fine, but well argued and substantiated is even better. Calm and polite tops. Anything that crosses my personal line will not go up. There may be reasons given, but not guaranteed.
I'm not too keen on 'Anon' as a handle (and the content usually explains why), so if that's what you opt for it may not make it. Sorry.
As you say.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually suprised at the multiplier. It's a lot more than I'd imagined it would be, which makes the reasoning behind 'new build at any cost' all the more hard to figure.
Well, other than the relationship between the construction industry, governemnt, LA's, etc, and the jon figures. The two E's again??!
It surprised me too, but I suppose if you consider it in enough detail there is an awful lot of CO2 expended in the original concrete and brick work which will effectively get emitted a second time if you demolish and build from new materials. And concrete, as we already know, is a massive contributor to CO2 emissions, making up the largest proportion of the construction industry's emissions.
ReplyDelete