With the onset of Global warming becoming more of an issue and our dwindling oil reserves becoming a reality the focus on what is actually sustainable for our future is becoming ever more urgent.
This article looks at the issues that affect our understanding of what is actually sustainable in building practice.
Whether you accept that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is cause of global warming or not (there is still some controversy about this), our carbon footprint still has a massive affect on our lives and on our ability to survive as a species.
Current research gives the average per capita CO2 emission for Europe ( EU 27 Average) at 10.
4 tonnes.
(1) Currently the population of China is 1,329 billion and India is 1,145 billion.
If they all drove a car and had the level of heating that we have in the UK it has been estimated that there would be no oxygen supply left for breathing, let alone the rest of the world with a current population of 6,707billion people ( this is projected to grow to 8,909 billion by 2050).
(2) Per Capita of course means per person.
It is obvious that our current energy use is totally unsustainable and definitely not exportable Currently we are an oil based economy.
Projections for oil supplies in the future vary depending on who you read or choose to believe but the general consensus is that we are nearer than we think to a decline in oil out put and "Peak Oil" than we would like and the likely cost will only increase as this happens.
These factors have to be factored into any discussion of what constitutes sustainable building practice.
I have recently completed building a low energy house.
It is a highly insulated house with heat recovery, under-floor heating, solar panels and low emission glass etc.
It is cheap to live in due to the level of heating needed to keep the place warm in the winter and supply hot water etc.
It is also a very comfortable house to live in.
But I would not argue that it is sustainable not in the long term.
It is an Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF) house.
Which basically is a solid concrete structure with insulation on both sides (in this case with 150mm on the outside and 50mm on the inside).
The insulation is petroleum based extruded polystyrene.
Concrete of course has gone through the process of heating and has a CO2 factor.
It could be argued that because the CO2 footprint of this house is small that it therefore should be considered as part of a sustainable solution to our long term goal of reducing our energy needs and therefore CO2 emissions.
But as a long term solution would of course conflict with the dwindling supplies of oil.
It could be argued that almost any form of construction that would meet these criteria in the short term could be considered as part of a strategy to meet a sustainable building program for the future.
Eco Builders Hampshire have recently completed building a house near Stockbridge in Hampshire which contains many of these energy saving features.