[GPRI] Tree Hugging Works ... Who Needs High Tech

[Richard Walton]

Hi:  This is a wonderful piece from Sam Smith's The Progressive Review. 
Who needs high tech?  Peace.  Richard.

YOU DON'T NEED HIGH TECH TO GO GREEN

TREE HUGGER - It is not a sophisticated building, 
it is a throwback. It is the first office 
building in 50 years to be built in Seattle 
without air conditioning. It won't knock anyone 
over the head with high-tech turbines and acres 
of photo voltaics; It will just efficiently and 
simply use 30% less energy by doing things that 
architects have known about for hundreds of years.

Got sun in your face? put on sunglasses on the 
building to stop it before it gets in. Want fresh 
air? Open the window. Want light? Make it 
shallow, only 35 feet from window to courtyard. 
Want air circulation? Put a hole in the middle of 
the donut to create a stack effect to draw air 
through. Nothing to see here that wouldn't be 
found in a 1936 Architectural Graphic Standards. . .

Other features include "low-flow plumbing 
fixtures, waterless urinals, a highly efficient 
hot-water heating system and perimeter hydronic 
radiant heating that is individually controlled. 
With only one elevator, the use of stairs will be 
encouraged by making them visible and accessible 
to users and visitors. The exposed structure 
minimizes the use of finish materials, and good 
indoor-air quality will be achieved by using 
low-VOC paints, adhesives and carpet."

It is not the high tech, sophisticated technology 
that will lead to sustainability. The way to 
build is to do the dumb simple things that 
everybody did before we had cheap power, which 
makes this just about the smartest building around.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/seattle_office.php


	"The only way out of our crisis (terrorism) is to reduce the anger of the
most rational, thus also reducing the constituency of the least rational."
 Sam Smith.

	"When they come for the innocent without crossing over
your body, cursed be your religion and your life."  Anon.  But often
quoted by Dorothy Day.
-- 
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"Richard Walton" <richard at soup.org>
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