SEARCH THIS SITE

Aim for a little bit less

17/2/2010

We all need to make changes to our lifestyle, says John Assael of Assael Architecture.

I am worried about the depletion of our non-renewable resources and the wasteful consumption of energy both in making and using our buildings. All of this has been discussed for decades, and nowhere as succinctly put as ‘long life, loose fit and low impact (energy)'.
 
Long life and loose fit help us to understand and appreciate the massive investment in terms of energy, as well as in the social and economic processes that build and adapt our cities.  This process provides much of the ‘glue' that defines our cultural heritage.  Low impact or low energy is a laudable ambition, whether or not the energy is from renewable resources - waste from whatever source is immoral.  So I am interested in wasting less as a way of addressing climate change, rather than focusing all my thoughts on how to reduce carbon emissions. Others are much more capable of understanding the science than I am.
 
Government is rightly concentrating much effort on how we can reduce the energy consumption in our homes. Unfortunately most of the housing stock is old and doesn't even comply with building regulations from the past - we replace less than one per cent of our housing stock every year.  So replacement is going to take a long time.

I am interested in making lots of small changes to the way that most of us live, as retro-fitting insulation, changing windows and replacing boilers is very expensive.  Perhaps we can start with small changes to lifestyle and to the fabric of our houses and flats.

We could:

• consume less, by for example, accepting lower temperatures in our buildings especially when we're asleep or the buildings are not occupied.  This is easy to manage with time-clocks and thermostats on radiators, as well as simply switching on the heating in rooms when they are used.
• waste less, with simple measures.  This can be done by anyone. Install reflector foil behind radiators, weather stripping to doors and windows, polythene sheet stretched across windows in the winter and curtains to the sill and not the floor in front of radiators.

John Assael is managing director and co-founder of architect and urban designer Assael.