This was posted by a member of the Building Technology Educators Society, of which I’m a member.
“It is time for NAAB to be replaced. In 2009 it missed the opportunity to require that all graduates of architecture schools be competent to design carbon neutral buildings, and it is missing it again in 2014. This is a major disservice to the profession and to the country, because the energies and good will of students as well as faculties are being squandered on meeting otherwise also valuable SPRs. Its a disgrace, and in particular a disgrace of those on the writing team for NAAB who dont understand that the sole regulatory body of the architectural education profession is in the process of postponing for another 5 years the above-said and measurable competence of all graduates from architecture schools.”
The post goes on, but you get the gist of it in this first paragraph.
My favorite quote: “…require that all graduates of architecture schools be competent to design carbon neutral buildings…”
Heck, it is difficult enough trying to get graduates competent enough to design ANY building, let alone a carbon neutral one.
Sometimes I wonder if anybody that is fully immersed in academia has any concept of reality.
My concern is that the “carbon neutral” agenda is foremost in many individual’s minds but in my experience someone just out of school has little knowledge of exiting requirements, occupant loads, fire separations, as well as a number of other items. If we want to create a ground swell of support for change why not champion the cause for a graduate having an understanding of life safety as well.
I went to a cont. ed. seminar once about energy efficiency and related subject matter. The presenter asked for a show of hands for individuals who where not LEED certified and a number of us raised our hands. A fellow architect went into a rant about needing to be environmentally responsible and how not designing to a LEED standard was “nothing short of criminal”. He went on to insist that GG was nothing more than green-washing and was worse than doing nothing at all.
When the seminar ended I followed him out to the parking lot. I got into my Honda Civic Hybrid while he got into his Cadillac Escalade and drove away. The hypocrisy would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
Lynn; I not longer have my hybrids (drove two and liked them - company leases)and have now moved up to a midsize because I am getting old and wanted a more comfortable ride. I drive a Subaru Legacy now but it is a PZEV so it is still fairly clean burning and the all wheel drive was handy last winter.
I don’t get the mileage I once got but it has it advantages. Drove up to a job site one day a few years ago and one of the tradesmen sitting on the tail gate of his Heavy-Duty Ford truck gave me a hard time for showing up at a union job site in a Japanese car. I pointed out that my car was built in Lafayette, Indiana while his Huge pickup was actually built by Navistar, under contract with Ford, at the Navistar plant in Escobedo, Mexico.
Ford is actually ending it’s relationship with Navistar and they are bringing the assembly back to the US but it was nice to silence my critic that day.
I had one of those hybrid civics. I just got tired of have to get out of the car and push the hamsters along if I needed to go faster than 60 on the freeway in the hills. It was like driving with a slipping clutch all the time.
Nice car, quiet, etc. just too small. It could barely hold two suitcases.
Most cars have at least some parts that are made elsewhere. And most Japanese cars are now at least partially built here. It’d be tough to state a vehicle was completely made in one country (at least the vehicles we drive).
Richard, the only place I’ve had difficulty is in the Missouri hill country. And I’ve driven this thing all over. The roads in Missouri are too sharply steep, so like a semi, if I can’t get a run at it, I’m down-shifting. (Yes, it’s a manual). As to trunk room, we easily manage two suitcases and then some. Maybe we use smaller suitcases. The only time I’ve noticed the small size is when I park it and get out - it looks tiny. My husband and I are both about 6 feet tall, and have no trouble fitting in the car. We cannot, however, take more than 3 grandchildren at one time in the back seat.
I also enjoyed driving the civics’ I had and I never had any issue with power, acceleration, etc. However I live in Illinois which is about as flat as it gets so hills were not part of the equation. I am trying to convince my partners that I need to lease a Tesla for my next company car but I fear that I am not going to get my way on that one.
Sorry, I seem to have turned this tread into “Car Talk”.
Isn’t that the problem with “sustainability”? It’s a great idea, but this or that part of it isn’t convenient for me. Look at the thousands of things that are a convenience, not a necessity. Convenience is the heart of a throw-away society. No time to do this, don’t want to carry that, can’t stand to be even a bit uncomfortable, gotta have a 3/4 ton pickup because I might haul a piece of plywood, need to have a 120 mph car even if I never go over 70.
Is the fact that we’re a CONSUMER society significant? We are continually encouraged to consume, not to use and reuse; to own rather than share things that are rarely used; to collect countless things just because.
Oh Sheldon, please don’t get me started. I am so sick of the rich liberals who say pithy crap like “Live simply so that others may simply live” as they climb into their hybrid SUVs and drive to their 5,000 sf homes, all the time feeling holy because they recycle their Coke cans.