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Posted on 05/29/2005 7:24:58 PM PDT by blam
3m homes 'should be demolished' to cut global warming
By Charles Clover
(Filed: 30/05/2005)
Some 3.2 million homes must be demolished over the next 45 years to fulfil the Government's aspirations for tackling global warming, academics have warned.
The report, by researchers at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute and Heriot Watt University, is bound to re-ignite the controversy caused by the proposed demolition of 400,000 homes in the Midlands and the North.
Households account for around 30 per cent of Britain's total energy use and the researchers conclude there is a "desperate need" for a clear strategy for housing stock to bring about the 60 per cent reduction in the country's fossil fuel emissions that Tony Blair has said he wants to see by 2050.
The academics say that Britain's 25 million homes are among the oldest and least efficient in Europe and recommend that 14 per cent of the current stock - 3.2 million homes - should be pulled down by 2050.
Listed buildings would be spared, but the plan would quadruple the present demolition rate to 80,000 homes a year by 2016.
"Care must be taken not to invest money in upgrading those homes that will ultimately be demolished," say the authors.
Even so, two thirds of the housing stock of 2050 has already been built and this will have to be made more efficient. The immediate priority is for walls and lofts, then solid walls, to be insulated. By 2050 all windows will be double or even triple glazed. The report, the "40 Per Cent House", emphasises the need to construct the 10 million new homes that will be built by 2050 to far greener standards than in current building regulations.
John Prescott's department has said that from April 2006 all publicly-funded new homes - including 120,000 planned for Thames Gateway - will comply with a new code for sustainable buildings, due to be released this year.
Quinlan Terry, the leading classical architect, criticised the researchers' recommendations last week at a conference in London about designing sustainable buildings.
He said the proposed demolition missed a "bigger picture", which included the fossil fuels already expended in putting up existing buildings and how long the new buildings would last.
He said that the embodied energy in each Victorian terrace house scheduled for demolition as part of the Government's urban renewal plans in the North was equivalent to 15,000 litres of petrol, according to the Buildings Research Establishment.
The carbon from the fossil fuels burnt to build our existing housing stock was already in the atmosphere, warming the Earth. "So why repeat the process?" asked Mr Terry.
And don't forget euthanasia on demand....government demand, that is.
You had taken photos...put them on a website
There was my home for riff raff to see
I'd been warning you all that you can't mess with me
I was really mad
I called up my attorney...so began the journey
I would get 10 million bucks through the court
Anything I want, little people can't thwart
But the judge refused to give my claim his support
Now they won't let me sue you anymore
You're really irritating...like Bush, your face I'm hating
I would show you a thing, maybe two
I would squeeze you until both your nads had turned blue
I called up my attorney...so began the journey
I thought I'd get 10 million bucks through the court
Anything that I want, little people can't thwart
The judge had refused to give my claim his support
Now they won't let me sue you anymore
Anything that I want, you cannot thwart
But the judge had refused to give my claim his support
Now they won't let me sue you anymore
I read that, "vintage cat", while looking for info on cat problems on the net. He is ancient, looks it, yowls constantly, has almost no teeth, is withering. It is his time but we are having trouble facing up to it. The vet keeps doing things but it is really just old age.
What happened to historic preservation?
I wonder if Windsor Castle is on the list.
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Could we start with those Hollywood mansions where the lieberals live? Maybe Babs for starters?
"The carbon from the fossil fuels burnt to build our existing housing stock was already in the atmosphere, warming the Earth. "So why repeat the process?" asked Mr Terry."
Because wa-a-a-a-ay more carbon is sequestered in the cellulose in the wood used to build than anything embedded in the construction process.
If we ever get Kyoto, this is coming to a neighborhood near you...and you...and you...
I don't think you can blame the pointy headed academic geeks this time. They are only studying what it will take to accomplish the goal set by Blair, as I understand it.
Academics should lead by example. I'll be glad to mail them a sledge hammer and a card board box for them to live in. "Knock yourself out".
That's exactly right! Bush saved us BIG TIME by refusing to sign it.
"Bush saved us BIG TIME by refusing to sign it."
For now, but they'll be back.
fools.
Yes, I understand that much of Oxford University dates from the 12-1400's. Shall we tear down Bodlien Library first? You know, to save the Earth and all, civilization, history, and people's homes isn't too much to ask, is it?
The company I worked for got a contract to demonstrate the feasibiity of cutting coal with high-speed water jets. It was discovered that the energy needed to get the coal cut was more than the energy in the coal that was cut. We sent the money back to the B of Mines, but they were not pleased.
I think we should demolish the academics.
"So where are the people going to go?"
Why they will live in sturdy proletariet housing blocks of poured concrete of course.....Pending the central commitees approval of course. Imagine the smiles on the workers faces as they settle down to their first dinner (beet soup) in their new homes.
For 3.2 million they can demolish mine
Can you say, "Educated FOOLS!" Children ?
I'm starting to think there's an entrance test for English academes -- if you're not a complete loon, sorry, you can't publish!
I expect Prince Charles to be sounding off about this soon, since he is the champion of vernacular architecture in his country, and I can't imagine his supporting demolishing 3M old houses, since that's what all the tourists come to see. There is an awful lot you can do to make old structures weather-tight, without tearing them down. We just completely redid an old 1960's house with no insulation and single-pane windows -- now it is all right and tight and comfortable, with insulation and new windows.
First guns, then kitchen knives, now old houses ... I'm getting very annoyed with the Brits!
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