Huntsville Lakes Council

It’s difficult not to be concerned about our continued energy consumption patterns considering overwhelming scientific consensus regarding the effects of pollutants on our environment. One can imagine that if we are contributing to melting the polar ice caps, a new era in global environmental responsibility is here. Polluted air, water and an overheating planet are a sad legacy to leave, despite our other accomplishments.

However, people are innovative and manage to evolve with changing times. Buckminster Fuller described how one little Telstar satellite weighing a few hundred pounds replaced 750,000 tons of transatlantic cable. This is the kind of paradigm shift in materials usage that we are capable of.

The two largest sources of CO2 are cars and homes. Cars may eventually be constructed with environmental technologies that improve combustion and reduce their current reliance on fossil fuels. The advent of hybrid cars illustrates this is possible over a relatively short horizon. However, constructing and heating buildings consumes almost half the world’s energy, and their life is 50-100 years.

No one can doubt the need for shelter in our Canadian climate. Survival depends upon it. Yet apparently our children’s well-being is brought into question by the very methods that we use to create and sustain our built environment. This isn’t a problem that will be easily resolved. It would be difficult to replace or upgrade the housing stock in a short time period, but it is important to look at methods available to us here and now to make a difference.

We’re now reconsidering the merits of nuclear energy, the ‘bad boy’ of energy generation for decades due to the risks of another Chernobyl. Nuclear facilities appear to be well supported politically. Again, however, the risks associated with security and waste are continuing concerns.

Hydroelectric power too was out of style due to its effect on fragile ecosystems and several decades of unresolved native land claims. Hydroelectric power uses the natural biorhythms of the planet. The sun evaporates and raises up water, and it falls as kinetic energy in the form of rain and rivers. When hydro developments are sited thoughtfully and carefully, they can supplement and back-up other renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Hydro-electric projects in and around Bracebridge are examples of beautiful harmony with the environment, supplying significant energy requirements for Bracebridge, Huntsville and Burk’s Falls.

But how can we reduce our household consumption of energy and the cost of maintaining our comfort? There are many technologies, but most have longer payback periods. Solar, wind and geothermal are good examples. If you are building or renovating, it’s possible to do a life-cycle-analysis of the materials and technologies that you choose (see for example www.athenasmi.ca/). Initial costs and long-term environmental costs can now be quantified and personal choices made to use renewable, sustainable materials, methods and technologies when building or renovating.

Choices are not always straightforward, and an example of this is the debate between proponents of concrete vs. wood.

Standard concrete generates 6 per cent of the CO2 in the world through production of portland cement. Yet concrete produced with fly-ash is much more eco-friendly. It also lasts longer than wood and acts as a CO2 sink when returned to a crushed state at end of life. On the other hand, when forests are managed they are a totally renewable resource. It is an interesting fact that a ‘growing’ forest acts as a CO2 sink through the accelerated photosynthesis process as compared to mature forests.

McLuhan would point out that buildings are extensions of our ‘skin’ as well as other bodily senses, organs and functions. One of the primary functions of buildings is to protect its inhabitants from extremes of climate and as such they act as moderators. Buildings can achieve this passively through optimal design, landscape and fenestration methods that seek to manage the energy of the sun. Where these methods fall short, we introduce heating and cooling technology systems. As with any technology, there is a range in both the cost, efficiency and the sustainability of any one system. You can tighten up a building to zero air-leakage, zero heat loss, but you need to introduce heat-exchangers to recapture heat and introduce fresh air, thereby avoiding “sick building syndrome.”

Buildings typically have roofs with R30, R40 or more and walls are typically R20 and can be easily upgraded to greater insulation levels. But the benefits of doing so need to be taken in the context of the weak link and the primary reason living indoors might be tolerated at all windows, glass . . . even modern technologies in double or triple glaze achieve only R5 to R6.

Significant research has been undertaken to create ‘switchable’ facades, in which new glass technologies adapt automatically to solar conditions. In the summer they block the sun, while letting in the rays in winter. The conclusions of this research, while promising, are fairly clear in suggesting the cost benefit of traditional methods such venetian blinds and other shading devices right now. Modern insulating blinds and shutters can be installed which offer an additional R5 to our windows. The weakness in this system is the need for human manual control to optimize performance while keeping installation costs down. They can be equipped with temperature, heat and light sensors that automatically control the blinds, but these methods still have a fairly long payback at present production volumes. This is one example of a simple technology providing our home environments with a ‘chameleon’- type response to the environment.

Many of our political leaders take the position of “Why should we reduce our consumptions and emissions, when other countries do not agree to do the same?” I believe that the answer is that we have created a worldwide culture of conspicuous energy consumption, and we in the developed world need to establish a different leadership role now. We’ve benefited from a culture of consumption while much of the rest of the world has not. We’ve built infrastructures and relative material wealth with it. To deny the same right to other nations without providing workable alternatives might be construed as oppression or an extension of colonialism at best. We need to show how to reverse the CO2 emission trend, without compromising the values and freedoms that we enjoy and promote in the world.

Huntsville Lakes Council’s mission includes facilitating education on the environment and sustainable development. As part of the town’s Environment Committee, HLC seeks initiatives that achieve a balanced response to the needs of present and future residents. For more information on HLC please visit www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org.