Going Green - Energy Alternative Solutions
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Janet Resino, 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Every generation has its conservation theme and the “Going Green” idea is anything but new. The concept of saving something endangered, having a cause and having new found “friends” that share your ideals is in itself a great motivator.
Without going into the history of conservation, we’ll jump into the current day “Going Green” catch all and investigate as well as report different products that are being suggested to be used to promote the Save the Planet movement.
The first premise that has to be understood is, this isn’t all NEW. Harnessing energy has been experimented with from the beginning of time. The reasons we are not using many of the non oil fuel sources is they were not cost efficient. The only question we should be asking now is if technological advances have made them more practical today.
Every well qualified architect and property manager loves to investigate cost saving and environmentally beneficial energy alternatives. Retrofitting is cost prohibitive. Energy saving tax incentives have launched many careers and equally they have died when the results didn’t meet up with expectations.
New construction offers energy alternative solutions where they can be installed in the most cost effective manner. Do building and home owners choose to go that path? Most do not. They must meet budget and even with long term projections, the costs do not justify the return.
When the “Green” idea for building energy sources does win is when the buyers have enough money to pay for it and choose it for a “designer choice”
Does the $2,500 dishwasher clean dishes any better than the $600 dishwasher? That’s a subject for another discussion.
The idea of “Green Energy” solutions should not be given up. The advances should be studied more than the concept. What new technologies are making these alternatives more cost effective to install? How true are the savings? What “retrofit” products are out there? What companies are providing value and quality products?
We have to keep demanding that improvements in these areas be made. We also have to be careful to not be duped by the media hype pushing us to buy yesterday’s rejects.
Without going into the history of conservation, we’ll jump into the current day “Going Green” catch all and investigate as well as report different products that are being suggested to be used to promote the Save the Planet movement.
The first premise that has to be understood is, this isn’t all NEW. Harnessing energy has been experimented with from the beginning of time. The reasons we are not using many of the non oil fuel sources is they were not cost efficient. The only question we should be asking now is if technological advances have made them more practical today.
Every well qualified architect and property manager loves to investigate cost saving and environmentally beneficial energy alternatives. Retrofitting is cost prohibitive. Energy saving tax incentives have launched many careers and equally they have died when the results didn’t meet up with expectations.
New construction offers energy alternative solutions where they can be installed in the most cost effective manner. Do building and home owners choose to go that path? Most do not. They must meet budget and even with long term projections, the costs do not justify the return.
When the “Green” idea for building energy sources does win is when the buyers have enough money to pay for it and choose it for a “designer choice”
Does the $2,500 dishwasher clean dishes any better than the $600 dishwasher? That’s a subject for another discussion.
The idea of “Green Energy” solutions should not be given up. The advances should be studied more than the concept. What new technologies are making these alternatives more cost effective to install? How true are the savings? What “retrofit” products are out there? What companies are providing value and quality products?
We have to keep demanding that improvements in these areas be made. We also have to be careful to not be duped by the media hype pushing us to buy yesterday’s rejects.
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